Freshman at Yokai
by Anime PJ
Summary: A human, a Vampire and a Wendigo. Tsukune Aono, Moka Akashiya and Ambrose Holt will meet friends, enemies and lovers as they go through their first year at Yokai Academy. Tsukune/Moka Kurumu/OC Mizore/OC The first in the 'Life With Monsters' duology.
1. An Eventful Start to the Year

**Hey, guys! This is me, editing _Freshman at Yokai _yet again, and this time it will hopefully be for the final time. My writing style has changed again, and I feel the need to write in a certain way, but I don't want to make my stories confusing my constantly changing writing styles, so now I'm going back and editing _again_!**

**Here's the changes: It'll be in the first person from Ambrose's point of view, but will switch to third person when focusing on other characters (such as Tsukune and Riku).**

**That's basically it for changes, so I hope you enjoy this revamped _Freshman at Yokai_!**

* * *

An Eventful Start to the Year

I, Ambrose Holt, sat at the back of the bus to Yokai Academy, gazing silently at the surroundings out the window. I could see my piercing blue eyes reflected back at me, along with my thin but strong face, Caucasian skin, and raven black, buzz-cut hair. My expression was bland and serious. I hadn't had many reasons to smile recently. I was wearing the green blazer and trousers of the Yokai Academy boys' uniform. I wasn't thinking about anything in particular, just taking in the scenery.

Then the bus pulled to a stop, and I pulled my eyes to the front of the bus to see someone else getting on.

He was a boy of about my age – fifteen – with dark brown hair that only the keenest of eyes could distinguish from black. His eyes were brown, too, though they were a much lighter shade, and his skin was a slightly tanned shade of Caucasian. He looked nervous and slightly sceptical about something. My nose caught a whiff of something and, I took an involuntary sniff.

This guy's scent … It was _wrong_, somehow … almost _human_ …

_But that can't be right, _I reasoned with myself as he sat down a little way down the bus from me, which I didn't mind because I liked my solitude when it came to travelling. _How in the hell could a _human _be entered into a school for _Monsters_?_

I decided that my nose had to be wrong. Which was strange, because the nose of a Wendigo was one of our best features.

Whatever it was that was wrong, I was glad for the distraction. It almost took my mind off the fact that my entire family had been slaughtered barely two or so months beforehand.

"So … entering Yokai Academy, eh, kids?" asked the bus driver, a man whose dark blue cap shadowed his facial features, and who constantly seemed to be smoking a cigarette.

"Uh … yeah," said the guy who had just gotten on the bus. His voice was shaky, nervous.

"Did the fact that we're on the _Yokai Academy school bus _give that away, by any chance?" I said. My voice came out in a deadpan. I hadn't truly emoted since the _incident_, not even to cry, though tears had felt close to bursting forth numerous times.

"I hope you said all your goodbyes," said the bus driver. "Because as soon as we come out of this long, long tunnel … you'll see the academy. And perhaps – never see _anything_ again!"

I could practically hear the stereotypical _dun dun duuuun! s_ound effect playing in the background. "Quaking in my non-existent boots," I said. I didn't much care for the bus driver's dramatics. I could see that my fellow student didn't, either, for he looked quite exasperated.

We soon entered a tunnel, and while the other student didn't seem to notice, I saw that the blackness of the tunnel was replaced by a mass of different colours as we entered. I felt a tenseness that I hadn't even realised I held leave my body. Any chance of somebody finding me out here was zero.

The tunnel regained its natural black shadows, and the bus soon exited back into the world – _a _world, at least – and pulled to a stop. I stood up and shoved my hands in my pockets, then exited the bus, following after my fellow student. I saw that we had parked by a forest, a forest of dead or dy_ing _trees. I peered past the bus and saw that there was an ocean which held a strange red gleam to it. There were no other landmarks in sight other than the bus stop, which was in itself rather odd. It was an old scarecrow; a rather stereotypical one, too. It was built out of a pair of sticks that were draped in old clothes, with a scary-faced pumpkin for a head. A sign reading _BUS STOP _was nailed to its front.

"Welcome to your new school, kids," said the bus driver. "You take care now." He tossed us a wave, then closed the doors of the bus and drove back into the tunnel, where the bus vanished into the darkness barely a second after entering.

My fellow student and I stood in an admittedly awkward silence. A clap of thunder accompanied a bolt of lightning striking in the distance, making me jump a little. My fellow student's reaction was quite similar to my own.

"What kinda school is this to be near a place like _this_?" said my fellow student.

"I don't know," I said, shrugging. I didn't know if he was expecting an answer, but I felt the need to give one anyway. I wasn't lying, ether, not entirely. I had never been to a school before – having been home-schooled by my mother before the _incident –_ so I genuinely had no idea what to expect. "But it'll certainly be interesting finding out."

"Yeah, I guess," he said. Then he stuck his hand toward me. "My name's Tsukune. Tsukune Aono."

I blinked for a moment in surprise, then considered. After some thought, I took his hand in my own and shook it. "Ambrose Holt," I said. "Here to learn and hopefully not die in the process."

That was one thing to be said about me. At least, despite everything, I hadn't lost my sense of humour.

Tsukune chuckled. "Yeah, me, too," he said. He looked around, spending a little more time looking at the trees – which had crows sitting in them, looking like we were about to become dinner – before saying: "Sure is creepy, though. It's like that tunnel lead to a different world."

"… Yeah," I said. I began to wonder if Tsukune was even aware of where we were. "I get that feeling, as well."

Lightning struck again, and it startled us both again. "Okay, _this _is pretty scary," said Tsukune, his voice dripping with optimism. "But Yokai itself can't possibly be that …" His gaze fell on something that made his expression fall. I looked, too, and saw a rather creepy-looking building in the distance with gargoyles and other horror movie set-pieces covering it. "That's the school, isn't it?"

"Afraid so," I said, nodding. I had seen photos of the building while signing up.

"Well … shit," Tsukune said in a deadpan, though he looked incredibly nervous. "That looks more like a haunted house than a school!"

"I suppose we'll just have to put up with it for a year." I shrugged.

"Yeah." Tsukune sighed. He looked at me. "We should probably get going."

I nodded, and the two of us started walking together. The forest was much more disturbing on the inside, and I found that I had almost no urge to say anything. Tsukune didn't seem to, either, but he _did _keep darting his head around at every little noise. The atmosphere was a little creepy, I guess. It actually gave me the chills somewhat, too. Those chills vanished and a sense of utter alertness overtook me as a sound hit my sensitive ears. Something was rustling through the leaves at a fast pace … and then there was the _ring _of a bell …

"LOOK OUT!" came the loud screech of a distinctly female voice. I was too late to react, but luckily the bike this speaker was riding bypassed me completely. Tsukune, however, wasn't so lucky; the bike collided with him directly, and Tsukune, the rider, and the bike were sprawled across the floor.

"Well, _that _was unexpected," I said, my eyes widening slightly as I took in the display in front of me. _And quite painful-looking … _I added in my mind. I hoped they were all right.

Tsukune groaned. He struggled to get back to his feet, and in doing so reached his arm out in an attempt to support himself. What his hand landed on was most certainly not the floor, and I had to resist the urge to sigh as I saw the situation he now found himself in. His hand was on the bare thigh of an incredibly attractive girl of about our age. Tsukune looked at his hand, and, seeming to realise what had happened, squeezed in shock.

The bike rider herself was, as I've said, incredibly beautiful. Her skin was pale and alluring. Her flowing hair was bubblegum pink and reached to slightly past her waist. Her emerald green eyes sparkled in the light, despite the slightly pained look currently on her face. She wore the girls' uniform for Yokai Academy, which consisted of a green blazer, white dress shirt, and a skirt so short it didn't even come _close _to reaching her knees.

"Oh, I'm sorry …" said the girl. Her voice was soft. "I'm anaemic … I get a little dizzy sometimes …"

I had seen the look that plastered Tsukune's face before, on a few people I'd met throughout my life. He was smitten. He looked like he had never seen a more beautiful girl in all his life.

Neither – and I admit this freely – had I. If I had been less in control of myself than I was, I might have even reacted to her in a similar manner to Tsukune. But I didn't really care about that sort of thing. As far as I was concerned, if a relationship happened to form while I was at this school, then it would just happen, but I wasn't planning on going looking for a girlfriend. That wasn't on my list of priorities.

Then I noticed that Tsukune's nose was leaking a small trickle of blood. _I thought that only happened in animé and stuff, _I thought curiously. I took a look at the girl to see if she had noticed, and to my immense surprise, where most girls would have been disgusted by this, she looked almost _entranced_ by it. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open slightly.

"Oh! Blood …!" she said, gasping. She took a handkerchief out of her pocket, and began to wipe the blood from Tsukune's nose with it. Her face got close to his face, and I heard her sniffing, and then she stiffened up, like she was in shock or something. "Your blood … I can … smell it …" She shook herself, and collapsed, grabbing onto Tsukune's shoulders for support. "Oh n-no … it's happening again …"

Tsukune was helping to hold her up, and he was sweating, fidgeting uncomfortably. The girl then looked up at him, he stiffened, and she got closer to his face.

"I'm sorry …" the girl said quietly. "But … you see … I'm a Vampire." She then brought her head to Tsukune's neck, and sank her teeth into it.

Something clicked in my mind, and the reason she had been so entranced by Tsukune's blood became blatantly obvious. I mentally smacked myself. I was attending a school for Monsters, but apparently it never occurred to me that the girl who seemed hypnotised by blood might be a member of the race most famous for _drinking _it.

Tsukune suddenly ripped himself away from the Vampire girl, and began running around the area in apparent panic. I couldn't help but watch him do so in confusion. I had heard that having a Vampire drink from you is a surreal and strange experience, but I had _never _heard of somebody reacting like this. Maybe Tsukune had even less experience with the outside world than I did …? _Yeah, that must be it, _I thought, shrugging. _Still, running into an S-Class Monster this early is rather interesting. I wonder what else will happen today._

"Oh, I'm sorry!" said the Vampire girl. "My name's Moka! I'd never dream of something like that … if I weren't …"

"A Vampire!?" Tsukune said suddenly. "Like, afraid of crosses and garlic!? That kind of Vampire!?"

"Uh-huh." Moka nodded shyly. Then she smiled. "And I have to say, you have really delicious blood!" Her face became vacant, like she was daydreaming.

I checked the watch I was wearing, and looked at the other two. "As pleasant as this is," I said, "I don't think the school's going to wait for us to arrive."

Both of them looked at me, Moka looking like she was only just noticing me.

"Yeah, you're right," said Tsukune. "We should get going. Come on," he added to Moka, who picked up her bike and began to walk beside us as we made our way through the dead forest.

"So … um …" said Moka. She was biting her lip nervously, and her gaze kept darting toward Tsukune, while only occasionally landing on me. "Do you not like Vampires?"

"Me? Not like Vampires? Don't be ridiculous! I _love _Vampires!" Tsukune said, a little too quickly in my opinion.

"Can't say I've ever met one," I said. "But as long as you don't sparkle, you're fine by me." I had been forced to read those books by my mother, and while I wasn't one to judge what other people enjoyed reading, I myself wasn't a fan of the _Twilight _series. In fact I found them to be overly dramatic, nonsensical, and stupid.

"Oh, I'm so glad!" said Moka. Once again, she was talking more to Tsukune than to me. In her eyes I could see the beginnings of the look I had seen on Tsukune's face when he had first looked at her. "Then we can all be friends. I was worried because I'm new here."

Moka smiled happily, and the smitten look on Tsukune's face returned.

"Uh, my name's Tsukune Aono," Tsukune said to Moka.

"And I'm Ambrose Holt," I said.

"Nice to meet you both," Moka said, smiling. "Let's talk after the commencement ceremony!"

* * *

I looked around the crowded classroom, and observed my classmates. A lot of them looked like people you'd be likely to find in a stereotypical movie high school. There were the sporty students, the nerdy students, the pretty students, the ugly students, and so on and so forth. There was one girl who stood out at the back of the class, but that was only because of her bright blue hair and strange choice of uniform. I was in the same homeroom as Tsukune, though, so at least there was an upside.

"Welcome, everyone, to Yokai Academy!" our teacher said enthusiastically. She was a woman who looked to be in her mid- to late twenties with sandy blonde hair fashioned in an attempt to hide a pair of cat ears – it was failing. She wore glasses, and her eyes, strangely, seemed to be permanently closed. "I'll be your homeroom teacher, Ms Shizuka Nekonome. As I'm sure you all know, Yokai is a school for Monsters!"

From the corner of my eye, I noticed Tsukune stiffen up slightly.

"Now!" Ms Nekonome continued. "Like it or not, human beings run the world! For us Monsters to survive, we must learn to coexist peacefully with them! And that's the mission of this academy! Living peacefully in a human world!"

Tsukune turned his head and began dragging his eyes over the rest of the class. His gaze was scrutinising, and he looked tense and worried. Was something wrong?

"Which brings us to rule number one! You will retain your human appearance! Does everyone understand? The first key to surviving among humans is being able to disguise yourself as one of them!"

Tsukune's movements were becoming downright frantic, and I picked up the faint smell of him perspiring. I once again tried to ignore just how very _human _he smelt. _I hope nothing is wrong, _I thought as I observed his movements. In the short amount of time since we had gotten off the bus together, I had found that I quite liked Tsukune. He was a really nice guy, and I would have hated to think he was having problems on the first day of school.

"To practice the art of disguise, please don't reveal your true nature – even to fellow students!"

"But ma'am," said a muscular, brown-haired boy whose eyes practically _screamed _psychopath. His voice was rough and full of confidence. "Can't we just _eat _all the humans? I could start with all the cute girls." He chuckled.

_Sick fucking pervert. _I narrowed my eyes at the boy, who was sitting right next to Tsukune and just in front of me, and decided I would keep an eye on him from this day forward. I hated people like him, and if I could stop his perverted endeavours, then I was damn well going to do it.

"You don't have to worry about running into any humans here!" Ms Nekonome said to the perverted boy. "All the faculty and staff are Monsters just like you! And since this academy is located in the secret 'Borderlands,' no human has ever seen it. At least – not seen it and _lived_!" This prompted everybody in the class to explode in roars of laughter, and I began to feel disgusted with the lot of them. Except for Tsukune, that is – _he _wasn't laughing. He looked quite freaked out, as a matter of fact.

_That's just an excessive use of force, _I thought. _There are ways to wipe memories. You could just do that and send them on their way, but don't fucking _kill _them!_

Tsukune was gripping the side of his desk, and the smell of his sweat strengthened. I think he was taking this even more seriously than I was.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and Moka, panting from exhaustion, barged into the room. "Oh! I'm sorry!" she said through her breaths. "I got lost in the halls after the ceremony, and … Sorry I'm late!"

"That's all right," said Ms Nekonome, smiling brightly at Moka. "Just take any empty seat."

"Thanks!" said Moka. It was then that Tsukune looked up, saw her, and that smitten look appeared on his face again.

As Moka began to walk around the room, my sensitive ears picked up the hushed voices of the other boys in the room.

"Wh-who is that …?"

"That silky hair …! Those huge eyes …!"

"It can't be a disguise … she's just too … too …"

"Beautiful …" all of them said together.

"Moka …" I heard Tsukune mutter as she walked by him. I found a smirk tugging at my lips. He had it _bad_.

Moka's head turned in his direction, indicating that she had heard him, and her face broke out in a huge smile. "Tsukune!" she said. She wrapped him in a massive hug. "I'm so happy we're in the same class!"

"Good to see I'm so well remembered," I said. I was trying not to let the smirk on my face take over completely. _These two are going to be together by the end of the year, _I thought fondly. I could see it coming a mile off. Even if I personally wasn't looking for a relationship, it didn't mean I couldn't be happy for my new friends – for that was what they were – if they happened to get into a relationship. I would be quite happy if they did, in fact; the two were clearly quite taken with each other, and the sooner they both realised it the better.

"Oh, it's good to see you, too, Ambrose," Moka said, still smiling. She took the empty seat behind Tsukune.

The comments being whispered by the male denizens of the classroom were louder now, and they were more angry than admiring. They were no longer aimed at Moka – now they were aimed at Tsukune.

"Hey! Who's he!?"

"How does he know her!?"

"How does he rate!?"

I couldn't help but grin as these comments reached my ears. They were all getting so angry about the friendship between two people none of them had met. It was actually quite hilarious.

But I couldn't stop my eyes from wandering to the perverted boy in front of me. I got a bad feeling about him …

* * *

Tsukune, Moka, and I were walking through the crowded hallways of Yokai Academy after class had ended. Moka had wrapped her arms around Tsukune's own, and she was practically dragging him through the halls as I did my best to keep up, which wasn't as hard as one might think. I had a small, barely noticeable smile on my face as I observed the two of them. It was always good to see people enjoying themselves.

All of the male students we passed in the halls looked at Moka and Tsukune with wide eyes. They were all having muttered conversations with each other.

"Whoa! Did you just see that girl!?"

"H-h-hot!"

"I've never seen a girl so hot!"

Those were the comments they made upon seeing Moka. Upon seeing Tsukune, however, their conversations took a noticeably dark turn.

"What's up with him!?"

"Who cares!?"

"Yeah! If he gets in my way, he's dinner!"

I noticed that Tsukune was tensing up as these comments continued, and I realised that they were now speaking loud enough for anyone with normal hearing to hear them just fine. I felt a certain protectiveness over Tsukune that I had only ever really felt around friends, and I found myself turning to face the whisperers with the disguise around my teeth dropped, revealing my rather large fangs to them. They quickly shut up.

"They're right, you know," said an unpleasantly familiar voice. It was the perverted boy from class. He was looking at Moka like she was a piece of meat, and I didn't like that look. I'm sure Tsukune didn't, either. "You are cute. Moka, isn't it? My name's Saizo Komiya, remember it."

"We'll be sure to note that down somewhere," I said. I wanted to divert his attention from Moka. I failed.

Rather than responding, he grasped both me and Tsukune by the front of our shirts, and hoisted us into the air. "What I want to know is, what's a girl like _you _doing with a couple of shits like _these_?" he said.

"Saizo Komiya!" I heard one of the other students say nearby. "I've heard of him! They say he's a real Monster Masher. He's always chasing girls – _human _girls. He caused so much trouble in the human world, they sent him out here – kinda like reform school!"

"Oh, that's _real _comforting," I muttered to myself sarcastically. Having had enough of Saizo's shit, I transformed my fingernails into their claw form, grabbed Saizo's wrist roughly, digging my claws into the skin, and twisted, tearing the skin open _and _breaking his wrist. He dropped Tsukune and I with a yell of pain, clutching his injured wrist in his hand, and then turned a glare toward me. "Do you want this to turn nasty, Saizo? I don't particularly want to fight you, I can't be bothered, but if this happens again, I won't be the one responsible for what happens. Remember _that_. And maybe remember your own name while you're at it, because I'll forget it almost immediately."

He glared at me for a few more moments, then turned his gaze back to Moka. "Come on, baby," he said through gritted teeth. "You need to experience something better than these tools – like me …" He struggled to speak through the pain of his hand. "… When should I pick you up?" He did his best to grin, but it came across as more of a grimace.

Moka slowly grabbed Tsukune's hand and began to walk away. "Sorry," she said, looking at Saizo wearily. "I'm hanging with these guys now." She began to walk off, astoundingly quickly, with Tsukune in tow.

"Oh, she _does _remember me," I mused to myself. I looked at Saizo, who was looking back at me with a glare that could kill a small army. "You might want to get that hand checked out at the nurse's office. Do try and behave yourself, won't you?" I gave him a sarcastic, cheery smile, and walked off after Tsukune and Moka.

"_Fuck you_ …" I heard Saizo growl from behind me as I walked off. I also heard the sound of something scratching across the ground …

* * *

Tsukune, Moka, and I were resting in the staircase from the confrontation with Saizo. Both of them were rather shaken up about the whole thing, which probably explains why we were way further away from the place the confrontation had taken place than we had to be.

"Whoa! That was kinda scary, huh?" said Moka once she'd gotten her breath back. She looked at Tsukune, who was still regaining his breath from the quick getaway. "Are you all right, Tsukune?"

"Uh … yeah," said Tsukune. "I'm fine! But … why are you being so friendly to me, Moka? I mean … I'm just an average guy …"

"What's wrong with average?" I asked. I knew he was talking to Moka, but I just couldn't let that last comment slide. "Average means you have family, friends, people who care about you. Average people get to have all those small moments that are so easy to take for granted. Dinner with your parents, chatting with your friends. Those small, average moments are what make life worth living. Never assume you're not special, Tsukune, because the most average person can change the world given the right circumstances." It was something my mother had taught me: that normal people lead much fuller lives than special people. And I believed it. My current situation could very well be considered "special," but I certainly didn't feel all that good about it. I would have much preferred to be normal.

"Yeah," said Moka. "And you're hardly average to me, Tsukune!"

"Huh?" said Tsukune. He was looking between Moka and I with a look of confusion plastered on his face.

"Besides," Moka said, beginning to blush, "you … already let me suck your blood! You should be proud! Your blood is awesome! Way more delicious than any I've drunk from transfusion bags! The flavour, the balance, the aroma, the body …"

"This got strange all of a sudden …" I said. I suddenly felt very strange about being present; this was starting to seem like something I should really leave these two alone for.

"Tell me about it," I heard Tsukune mutter under his breath.

"Well … to tell the truth …" said Moka, blushing an even deeper red than before. "Tsukune … y-you were my first … The first person I really sucked blood from! And a girl never forgets her first time!" A huge but cute smile broke out on her face, and she gazed at Tsukune.

"I think I preferred this conversation when it was just weird," I said, shuffling uncomfortably on the balls of my feet. "Now it's just dirty."

"M … Moka …" said Tsukune, his breaths shaky.

"Oh, stop!" said Moka bashfully. She lightly shoved Tsukune away … and he went flying backwards and was embedded in the wall. "I'm embarrassed! Let's go explore the school, guys!"

"O-okay," Tsukune said, groaning in pain.

I shook my head in amusement, and had to fight down a chuckle as I made my way over to him. "Need a hand?" I said, extending a hand toward him.

"No," he said, sarcasm evident in his voice as well as pain. "Getting stuck in the wall is a hobby of mine!"

A grin worked its way onto my face. "You're learning," I said. I took him by the arm and, with minimal effort, pulled him out of the hole in the wall. "Being able to respond instantly with sarcasm is a sign of a healthy mind, my friend. I do it whenever I can." We walked in the direction Moka had walked off in, and we caught up with her fairly quickly.

From that point on, we looked around at the different areas of the school. When compared to the outside, the inside was quite normal. It looked like the hallways and classrooms of any ordinary, human school. The outside looked much like a haunted mansion, complete with gargoyles decorating the steps to the entrance. We then made our way to take a look at the dorms we would be staying in.

"It says this is the dorm we'll be living in," said Moka.

Tsukune and I looked up at the building in front of us, and it wasn't exactly a conventional looking dorm. It was surrounded by gravestones and dead trees. The building itself looked run-down, with boarded up windows and cracks in the wall, and it was surrounded by ravens, crows, and bats. All in all, it didn't look like a very comfortable place to live long-term.

"They can't really make us spend three years in _that_, can they?" said Tsukune. Sweat was pouring from his face as he gazed up at the structure, shaking.

"It could be worse," I said, trying to lighten things up. And honestly, I _had _slept in worse places. "There could be a man with a machete and a hockey mask waiting for us inside." I shrugged.

"It's heaven," Moka said happily. "Have you ever seen a building with such personality?"

"The architects certainly had some interesting ideas, I'll give them that," I said.

"What!?" said Tsukune. "Are we looking at the same dump!?"

"Huh?" Moka looked at him, confused. "But this place is a Monster's dream! By the way, what type of Monsters are you two?"

"Wendigo," I said without hesitating. I didn't expect many people would follow that rule, anyway. "And let me tell you, my true form is an ugly fucker."

Tsukune began perspiring again. "Uh … well … um …"

"Oh, that's right!" Moka said suddenly. "It's against the rules to tell, huh? Sorry, forget I asked."

"Sure, sure!" Tsukune said, a little too quickly in my opinion. "But I gotta say, Moka, you totally look human from every angle! And so do you, Ambrose!"

"That would be the shapeshifting that I'm rather sure _you're _doing, as well," I said, raising an eyebrow at him. I wasn't exactly well informed on how the world worked, but Tsukune seemed to be downright _ignorant _when it came to Monster society. Just where had this guy been living …?

"I may look human now," Moka said to Tsukune, "but when I take off this Rosario," she gestured to the silver cross with a red, lizard eye-like bead at the centre, "I get _really _scary."

"Rosario?" said Tsukune.

"It's a crucifix with a Rosary Bead in the middle," said Moka. "It locks up Vampiric powers. I don't like causing trouble anyway, so I'm happy to wear the Rosario and keep my powers in check!"

Moka began edging closer to Tsukune, who now seemed to be lost in thought, which I could tell from the slightly glazed look in his eyes.

"Of course, even with her powers locked up, a girl needs blood," said Moka. Then she sank her teeth into Tsukune's neck for the second time that day.

Tsukune's yells of surprise echoed through the area, and I could not contain the chuckles that burst forth from my mouth as I watched on from the sidelines.

It had been a strange, yet oddly charming, first day. I looked forward to the next one.

* * *

Morning the next day, Tsukune finds himself walking to school alone, having woken up before both Moka and Ambrose. He is carrying a withdrawal letter that he plans on giving to the principal, but he simply can't bring himself to deliver it. Ambrose is a good friend, of course, but he has plenty of good friends back home. The real reason he doesn't want to leave is Moka. He doesn't want to be separated from her, but at the same time this whole thing is just too messed up. Why does the best thing that ever happened to him have to be in a place like this?

"Yo, wait up, lady killer," says an unpleasantly familiar voice. A large hand grabs Tsukune's shoulder and roughly forces him to turn around. Saizo grabs the front of Tsukune's shirt and holds him in place.

"S-Saizo!" Tsukune says in shock upon seeing who it is. Saizo smirks at him, and, just like the day before, lifts him into the air by the front of his shirt. His hand looks like it has healed.

"I hear you, Moka, and that other annoying little freak spent a lot of time together yesterday," says Saizo. "Just who do you think you are!? What's your true nature, anyway!?" His hatred-filled eyes turn to pure contempt. "What's that _other _bastard's true nature!? What are you two little fucks hiding under that human form!?"

_Shit! _Tsukune thinks in terror. He is sweating bullets. _If he finds out I'm human, I'll die! And then he'll go after Moka and Ambrose! _"N-nature?" he manages to say, trying to think of something. "I-I'm a … a … Vampire or something."

Saizo's eyes narrow, and he shoves Tsukune up against a wall, punching into the brick next to him and leaving a large indent there.

"A Vampire!?" Saizo says, even angrier now. "The Vampire is an immortal! Said to be the most powerful Monster of them all! _You_, a Vampire! Don't make me laugh. What next, are you going to tell me the bastard who busted my wrist yesterday is a Werewolf of something!?" He barks out mocking laughter. His hand becomes grotesque and his fingers grow claws, and he hovers the hand over a terrified Tsukune's head. Tsukune is _very _close to passing out from fear when Saizo drops him on his ass and starts to walk away. "Don't let me catch you near Moka again. If you even _speak _to her, you're dust. And your other friend better watch his back, 'cause after what he did to my wrist I'm not in a very good mood with him."

He just leaves Tsukune there, sitting on the ground near a small pile of broken bricks.

* * *

After waking up that morning, I met up with Moka outside, and the two of us stood together waiting for Tsukune. It felt a lot less awkward than I thought it would, being alone with Moka. I had expected the silence, sure, but I had thought it would be the uncomfortable kind. That wasn't the case at all. We stood in a rather comfortable silence, occasionally making idle conversation as we waited for Tsukune to show himself. It was actually quite pleasant.

"There he is," I said, pointing him out when I saw him. To my confusion, however, he seemed to be carrying his luggage with him. Moka and I approached him, Moka going a lot faster than myself.

Moka got to him and hugged onto him. "Hey, Tsukune!" she said happily. "We better hurry up or we'll be late!"

"Another day of human-hating awaits," I said humorously. "Should be great."

"Guys …" Tsukune said quietly. His eyes kept drifting downwards. I had seen that look on people before – he was feeling depressed about something.

"Tsukune," said Moka. She was looking at the suitcase Tsukune was carrying. "What's wrong? You're carrying your luggage."

"I don't know what to do, guys," said Tsukune. "This school is too scary! I want to go to a human school!"

"To a …" Moka seemed to be struggling to find words. There was shock written all over her face. Hell, I was pretty surprised, too. "No! You can't go to a human school! _I hate humans_!"

"I wouldn't go as far as to say I _hate _humans," I said. It was strange, really; of all Monsters, I had a very valid excuse for hating humans, but for some reason I just didn't. General discomfort, yes, but not hatred. "But going to human school after one bad day seems like an unorthodox decision."

"I … I went to middle school with humans," said Moka. Surprisingly, she now seemed to be speaking to both of us. "And I was so lonely! They all said, 'Monsters don't exist, except in stories!' I felt like a freak! I started to think it might be better … if I really didn't exist … I thought it would never be any different …" Then she looked at Tsukune; her eyes were sparkling. "That is, until you told me you love Vampires. For the first time, I know I'm not really alone! You can't go, Tsukune! We'll get through this together!"

"You're our friend, Tsukune," I said, and the word "friend" came much more naturally than I thought it would. "We'll help you out however we can."

Tsukune was quiet for a few moments. "What if …" he said, hesitating. "What if I were one of those humans you hate? Would you still stop me?"

I tensed up when I heard that. I remembered the first time I had seen Tsukune, on the bus … he had smelt so very _human_, but I had thought my nose was playing tricks on me. But then there was his strange ignorance of the Monster world, that constant fear he had displayed whenever Monsters in general were mentioned … it all made sense now, and not in a good way. I didn't hate humans, but Tsukune being here was very, _very _bad.

"What?" said Moka, her eyes wide.

"I get the feeling this is going to be a very unpleasant conversation …" I said. I had a bad feeling about this whole thing.

"Moka, Ambrose … I am," Tsukune said, confirming the thoughts that were running through my mind. "I'm a human. I got into this school by mistake! I'm different from both of you!"

"But that's impossible!" said Moka. "No human could possibly …!"

"Nothing is impossible," I said. I swallowed a lump in my throat as the gravity of the situation hit me. "Just highly unlikely."

Moka looked at Tsukune, and the look on her face can only be described as horrified.

Tsukune looked at the face Moka was making, and bowed his head. "So, now that you know I'm human, that's how you look at me," he said. It came out as a mutter, and his tone was permeated with sadness. "I was right, this place isn't for me." He turned around and started walking away.

I walked a little behind him. "Tsukune, please think about this," I said pleadingly, more for Moka's sake than my own. I saw how these two were with each other, and they _needed _each other, whether either of them knew it at the moment or not. I wasn't important – I was just sort of there. "We had a good thing going yesterday. I'm sure we can just keep this whole thing a secret."

"Tsukune, is it really true?" said Moka, interrupting any of my further attempts to persuade him. She walked up behind him and grabbed onto his shoulder, but he swung around to face her, hurt anger covering his face.

"You hate humans – _remember_!?" he yelled in her face. "Well, maybe I don't like Monsters, either!" He took off running through the forest, in the direction of the bus stop.

"Tsukune!" Moka yelled, and started running after him. I ran, too, and passed by Moka after barely a moment due to my superior speed as a Wendigo, which we needed in order to effectively hunt our food.

I ran after Tsukune, having more trouble catching up than I normally would due to Tsukune's head start, but I was gaining fast. I caught up with Tsukune just before he reached the bus stop, and with a clumsy leap, I tackled him to the ground, and held him down by the arms.

"Get off me!" he said, glaring up at me. "I need to get out of here, it's too much!"

"You think _this _is too much?" I asked him, glaring right back. My tone remained blank, but my facial expression spoke volumes about the mood I was in. "It could be _so much worse_ than this, Tsukune. As it is, you, me, and Moka are the only ones who know you're human. I like you, you're a nice guy and you're easy to make friends with. I don't want you to leave. And I'm _damn _sure Moka doesn't, either, no matter what she may have said just now. You two get along so well, _please _don't ruin that by leaving." I didn't want to lose a friend this soon after gaining one, because it _would _be too much for me. I hadn't gotten close to anyone since the _incident_, and losing someone else would probably break me at this point …

"You heard what she said," said Tsukune. The anger was gone, replaced by hurt resignation. "She hates humans, I _am _a human. How the hell are we gonna stay friends?"

"That's entirely up to you," I said. "I don't know how it'll turn out, but you'll have to try before we find out."

Tsukune went quiet. His eyes glazed over in that _I'm thinking _look that people got when they were contemplating something. I knew he wasn't going to run away from me, so I released his arms.

And that's when the high-pitched scream of pure terror tore and echoed through the forest.

Tsukune and I looked at each other, and it was like something clicked between us. "Moka!" we both said, and took off running back through the forest.

It didn't take us long to get where we were needed. Moka was there, on her knees, looking quite distressed. In front of her was a large, grotesque Monster – a Monstrel – with its long, pointed tongue poking out of its mouth. It had huge, course muscles, pulsing with thick veins, one human eye and one black eye with a glowing white pupil. Its claws were massive, and it licked Moka up and down with its disgusting tongue.

"MOKA!" Tsukune shouted at the top of his lungs as we came upon the scene.

"Tsukune!" Moka yelled in surprise. "But why!? Why did you come back!?"

"Ambrose opened my eyes," said Tsukune. "But, Moka, there's something I want to tell you!"

"Then say it, boy," growled the Monstrel. Its voice was distorted, but I could tell that it was Saizo. "Then you and your friend can prepare to die!" Saizo started looking at Tsukune and I like we were dinner.

"You are one _ugly _motherfucker," I said. "A Monstrel, huh? So, tell me, which one of your parents beat the shit out of you when you were a baby?" His glare turned to me and I could practically feel it burning holes in my skin. _Okay, so I got his attention._

"Run, Tsukune!" Moka yelled. "That's Saizo's true form!"

Saizo swung a massive hand at the both of us. I threw myself in front of Tsukune because I knew that the naturally fast healing Monsters have would make it hurt less. Tsukune, being a human, wouldn't have been quite so lucky. The two of us went flying backwards into the trees. I began to have my doubts about this. Wendigos are known as hunters, but only our speed, hearing, and smell were already enhanced when we were this age; it wasn't until the age of twenty-two that we went through a sort of "second puberty" and gained all of our abilities – from that point on, we were basically S-Class Monsters.

Saizo laughed sadistically, looking down at Tsukune. "What's the matter, little 'Vampire'?" he said mockingly. "I've always wanted to test my strength against one of you! Too bad you're just trash!"

_He didn't tell him he was a Vampire, did he? _I asked in my mind. As much as Vampires promoted fear in most of the Monster community, more often than not they encouraged power hungry challengers like this bastard to do something stupid. Telling Saizo he was a Vampire was a pretty big mistake on Tsukune's part.

Moka ran over to where Tsukune had landed – a little bit away from me, but I was able to hear due to my sensitive ears – and knelt down beside him. "N-no! This is awful!" she said. "I'm so sorry … I used to … used to _want _to believe … that I could really have a human friend, but … I'm a _Vampire_. I suck the blood of humans. I hurt them. I wanted to think that the right person and I … could overcome that … But I guess it's impossible. I'd only end up hurting you, too, Tsukune." Tears were flowing down her cheeks the entire time she spoke.

I got to my feet and turned my nails into claws. I then ran toward Saizo, who raised an arm and brought it down on me. It hit me, but I dug my claws into it, so while I _was _knocked away, I took a large chunk of his arm off. I grinned to myself in satisfaction even as I hit a tree and felt one of my arms snap.

"It's … true …" Tsukune said to Moka. His voice was croaky due to pain. It was actually kind of adorable, that those two were so focused on each other that they didn't even notice my little scuffle with Saizo. "I'm … weak … and ordinary … But … I realised … I can't just run away like this … and leave you. Moka … I want to be your friend. Yes, you're a Vampire. But I really like you!"

"Are you deaf!?" Saizo said to them, having turned back to them after dealing with me. His left arm was slacking from where I had clawed it. "I told you – STAY AWAY FROM HER!" He brutally kicked Tsukune, sending him flying directly into Moka. The collision caused Tsukune's hand to wrap around Moka's Rosario, and with what looked like no effort he ripped it from her neck.

A strange, blinding white glow enveloped Moka's body.

"HEY!" Saizo shouted. "What in the—!?"

_Either Saizo's fucked … or we're _all _fucked, _I thought. I stared in interest and slight fear at the spectacle of Moka's Vampire powers awakening from within her. The light was oddly beautiful.

Moka's hair turned turned a shining silver, almost white, and her eyes turned blood red, with thin black pupils much like a lizard's – they heavily resembled the bead on the Rosario, now that I think about it. The teeth in her mouth sharpened into fangs, four significantly longer than the others, and the transformation was completed by the significant enlargement of the breast and ass areas. If I'm being completely honest with myself, this new Moka was kind of sexy, but I did my best to wipe that thought from my mind.

"Wh-what is this …?" Saizo said, his eyes wide and his body shaking. "That radiating _power_! It's not her any more! It's something else!"

The glow that came with the transformation disappeared, and the new Moka stood with a large grin and a violent glint in her eyes.

"Red eyes … and unearthly power!" Saizo continued. "So the legends are true! The most fearsome of Monsters – THE VAMPIRE!"

"Inner" Moka stood and stared at Saizo with contempt clear in her face. "What's the matter, little boy?" she asked him in a mocking tone. "I thought you wanted to snuggle. So why not show us how strong you are and give me a hug?" She opened her arms wide invitingly, but the grin on her face told a story I'm not sure Saizo wanted to hear the end of.

But it would appear that Saizo was incredibly stupid, as he charged forward with a loud yell, and swung his right arm down at her.

"Moka! No!" shouted Moka.

"Don't worry," I said, crawling over with my unbroken arm. "She'll be fine. I don't know if you've noticed from the way Saizo has been acting, but Vampires aren't exactly known for being weak."

As Saizo was about to crush Inner Moka, she caught his massive tree-sized appendage with _one _of her hands! "Really!" she said. "Is that all you've got!?" She moved his arm so that she was looking him in the face. "Learn … your … PLACE!" She used his own arm as leverage to swing around and plant a kick directly in Saizo's face. The force of the kick sent him flying through the woods, demolishing trees as he went. I didn't see where he stopped.

"Typical Monster," Inner Moka scoffed. "All size. I said, learn your place." She turned toward Tsukune and I, and began to walk toward us.

Tsukune began to tremble as she got closer.

"What?" she asked him when she reached us. "Are you afraid of me …?" She chuckled lightly, and reached down to pluck the Rosario from Tsukune's hand. "Don't be so jittery. It's been a while since I've been awakened … I'm still drowsy. I won't hurt you, 'cause your blood tastes too good to me … even when the _real _me is asleep." She rubbed Tsukune's chin, but it didn't appear to be comforting him in any way.

"Scaring the poor guy isn't going to do much more than make him want to run from you," I said. "Do you really want your blood supply to run away?"

"The chase _would _be fun." Inner Moka chuckled. "Till we meet again. You two just keep babysitting Moka, 'kay?" She returned the Rosario to its spot on her necklace, and she quickly returned to being the pink-haired "Outer" Moka we had come to know over the last day. She immediately passed out and fell into Tsukune's arms.

"Well, you two really are meant for each other," I said, grinning at Tsukune.

Tsukune's face lit up red as a tomato. "D-don't say stuff like that!" he said.

I laughed. "I don't know about you," I said, "but I hope to _God _that the rest of the year isn't like this."

"Me, too, dude," said Tsukune. "Me, too."

* * *

**I hope you guys enjoyed this edited version of _Freshman at Yokai_, because this is going to be the final version! I promise, I'm going to leave it alone from now on, other than new chapters of course. I'll be editing up the other chapters soon enough, so just sit tight and enjoy.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, guys! Welcome to the second chapter of the rewritten 'Freshman at Yokai'! I'm quite pleased with this so far, to be honest.**

**Let the chapter commence!**

* * *

Enter: The Succubus

Far from any human habitation, hidden behind a magical barrier, stood Yokai Academy, a school for Monsters. Looking at the students, no one would suspect a thing. School rules dictated that every student stayed in their human forms at all times. But make no mistake, every student was really a Monster. Well… almost all of them.

Two students exited the boys' area of the school dormitories, chatting away. One was human, the other a Wendigo. Tsukune Aono and Ambrose Holt. The two of them were well aware that if any of the other students found out about Tsukune's true identity, he'd be dead _very _quickly. But unless there was any danger of that happening, they'd just enjoy school life.

"It's her! It's Moka!" a male student standing nearby the two yelled out in excitement.

"She looks even cuter than usual…" another student sighed, dreamily. "Like there's a golden light all around her…"

Sure enough, as Tsukune and Ambrose looked in the direction of the other students' gaze, they saw their pink-haired Vampire friend: Moka Akashiya, smiling away happily. She was completely oblivious to the comments and stares of the male student populace, as always.

"Morning, Moka!" Tsukune called out to her, waving to get her attention.

She looked towards the two and her smile got even bigger. She rushed up to them and wrapped Tsukune in a large hug. "Morning, Tsukune!" she greeted the human enthusiastically. "Hey, Ambrose," she added in when she'd finished hugging Tsukune to death.

"NOOOO!" the male students around the cried in despair.

"Moka with a guy!? I won't stand for it!" one said.

"Him again! Why him!? Why him!?" another added.

"It's wrong! Just wrong!" another sobbed.

"Guys in Japan get rather emotional about these things, don't they?" Ambrose asked no one in particular. "Why obsess over one girl when there are so many more in school?"

Tsukune thought fate must have been joking with him, sticking him in a school full of Monsters. But then it let him meet Moka, the only real reason he wasn't running away from the place as fast as he could.

"Tsukune," Moka got his attention. "I know it must be lonely being the only human here. But I'm here for you, if there's anything I can do just ask, okay?"

"Same here," Ambrose said. "I'd rather you didn't get eaten. Who would clean up the mess?"

"You guys..." Tsukune said. "Why are you so nice to me?"

"Why?" Moka asked him. "Because I… I… love… to suck your blood!" She'd been getting closer the entire time, and unfortunately for Tsukune she'd sunk her fangs into his neck once again.

"I'll never understand you two, but you're so fucking adorable," Ambrose told them, chuckling at the scene in front of him. Then his stomach grumbled. Looking at Moka suck Tsukune's blood had made him hungry. And now he wasn't sure exactly how messed up that made him.

_Ah, what the hell, _Ambrose thought to himself. _I'm hungry. I'll settle for a bird if I have to, but I wonder if there's any rabbits in those woods… _As a Wendigo, he got the most nutrition from a recently killed animal, meaning he preferred to hunt it himself. He wondered away as Tsukune began complaining about how he was Moka's personal blood supply, into the forest, to look for something to kill.

He sniffed around and kept his ears at alert at all times. Wendigos were built for hunting. They were athletic, had better hearing and smell, and their teeth and claws were made for ripping through bone and flesh alike. He knew it was against school rules to to go into his true form, but there was no one else out here, and he needed to eat, right?

"H-Help…" It was barely a whisper, and a little farther away than most would be able to hear, but he caught it. He started wondering in that direction, slightly deeper into the woods. "S-Someone… please…" It was louder now, and Ambrose was closer to the source of the noise. He wondered towards it and came into a clearing, where he found the owner of the voice.

She was in his class, he remembered. She was a girl with ocean-blue hair that was tied back with a purple headband that had two stars on the side. Her eyes were a deep purple and she had thick eyelashes. She wore a plain, long-sleeved white shirt with a large red bow tie, over the top of all that she wore a pale yellow vest and a light brown checked skirt with white leg warmers and black dress shoes. Then there was her chest… If Ambrose had been a pervert, he'd have had a nose bleed. As it stood, he wasn't a pervert, but he still briefly took notice before shaking such thoughts out of his mind. She was on the floor, face cringed up in pain.

"Please… help me…" she groaned in pain. "I'm so faint…"

"Are you all right?" Ambrose asked as he quickly went to her side, helping her stand up. "Here, lean on my shoulder, I'll help you stay standing."

"Oh, thank you so much," the girl thanked him. "I've always been delicate, you see. It's my chest." She hugged herself closer to him. "I have these spasms… And my chest feels so tight, like it could just burst!" She was squeezing her breasts against him now, rubbing them up and down his chest with a strange smile on her face. And even Ambrose's non-perverted nature couldn't stop him from becoming flustered by the situation.

Ambrose did his best to look away from her, trying to hide the blush that now dusted his cheeks. "Fascinating," he breathed out, his voice cracking.

"Please," she whispered, alluringly rather than painfully. "Look into my eyes." She grabbed his head and turned it so that he was facing her, and he did in fact look into her eyes. "My name's Kurumu Kurono. Let's be friends, okay?"

And for some reason, Ambrose felt the overwhelming need to hold Kurumu close to him, to embrace her and never let go. And he did hold her. He wrapped her in a hug and they walked off together, arm in arm.

Neither noticed that Tsukune and Moka were watching them from a distance after they'd gone looking for wherever Ambrose went.

~Freshman at Yokai~

"Who do you think that girl was?" Moka asked Tsukune after class. Ambrose had had a strange air about him since that morning when they'd seen him walk off with Kurumu, and they were concerned about him.

"I don't know," Tsukune said. "But Ambrose doesn't seem the type to just wonder off with any random girl. So either they know each other, or something weird is going on."

"Do you think we did something to upset him?" Moka wondered aloud. She may have spent most of her time with Tsukune, but Ambrose was still her friend. And she didn't want to lose any of her friends.

"_**Quit your whining," **_a voice came from seemingly nowhere. **_"Don't let your guards down."_**

"Where the hell did that voice come from!?" Tsukune exclaimed.

"I-I don't know," Moka muttered.

"So… they say you're a Vampire," a voice called from above them. Tsukune and Moka looked up to see a familiar blue-haired girl sitting on a bannister above them. "It's quite the gossip in class," Kurumu continued. "Moka Akashiya – right?"

"You're the girl who was with Ambrose!" Moka realised.

"What's up with you two getting along so well!?" Tsukune demanded. It had been bugging him all day. Ambrose didn't seem the type to go chasing girls, and even if he did he probably would have introduced her to the two of them. Something was wrong here, he could almost taste it.

Kurumu laughed and leapt off the bannister, landing gracefully on her feet when she reached the floor. She grinned smugly at all the comments she was getting from the boys who had seen it.

"Whoa! So graceful!" one said.

"So petite… except for her..." commented one guy who was ogling her.

"She's almost as cute as Moka!" exclaimed another.

"I am the Succubus*****, Kurumu Kurono," she introduced herself to the two of them. "And I am here to defeat you."

"Wait," Moka said. "Isn't it against school rules to reveal your identity?"

"I can't stand it!" Kurumu yelled suddenly. "An airhead like _you _getting in the way of my grand plan!"

"Hey! Don't insult Moka!" Tsukune shouted at her. Despite how much stronger than him she was, he still felt very protective of Moka.

"Plan?" Moka asked, though she blushed at Tsukune's defence of her.

"My plan to enslave the entire male student body!" Kurumu announced, yet no one but Moka and Tsukune seemed to care. "Operation Yokai Harem! My plan was infallible. Every boy in the school would be mesmerised by my beauty. Until _you _came along! And all the fools fell for you instead! I will _never _lose in a battle of feminine charm! Do you hear!?" All of the surrounding boys were getting excited, hoping that a cat fight would break out between the two.

"That's why I decided to show you that you don't have a chance against me," Kurumu carried on monologuing her master plan like a stereotypical bad guy. "By stealing one of your little pets from you!"

"They're not pets, they're my friends!" Moka yelled at her. "Leave them out of it!"

"Friends?" Kurumu laughed. "I saw you drinking that one's blood. Tell me, how does it taste? Do you use them both for that? Is that what they're for, your blood banks? Well, in that case, you only need one, right?"

"She doesn't even drink his blood!" Tsukune argued. "Leave him alone! He's not just some tool for you to use, he's a person!"

"I would never use my friends like that," Moka shook her head, agreeing with Tsukune.

"Why is this bloody hallway so crowded?" a familiar voice asked as a few students complained about pushing. "Did someone die or something?" Out of the crowd pushed Ambrose, who took notice of Tsukune and Moka before anything else. "Oh, hey guys, what's with the commotion? Sorry about disappearing earlier, I was hungry, and I've been feeling a bit weird for most of the day." _I actually don't think I even ended up eating anything, _he thought, _that's quite strange. I just sort of wondered off with Kurumu…_

"Oooh! It's my hero!" Kurumu cried as she leapt at Ambrose and wrapped him in a tight hug. "How can I ever thank you, Ambrose?"

"That's really not necessary," Ambrose tried to wave her off.

"Wait, Ambrose! She's playing you, man!" Tsukune called to his friend.

"She's not really nice!" Moka joined him. They _had _to get Ambrose away from Kurumu, or something bad would happen. They could feel it.

"Wh-Why is she saying such horrible things?" Kurumu fake-whimpered. She wobbled on the spot and feigned falling over, directly onto Ambrose who caught her. She once again made eye contact with him and muttered one word. "**Allure!**" And then it happened again. Ambrose felt the overwhelming need to just _be _with Kurumu. He found himself wrapping an arm around her in return as she hugged onto him.

"C'mon, Ambrose, you've gotta believe us!" Tsukune shouted at him.

"She's going to devour you!" Moka added in.

"Devour me?" Ambrose asked them. "Come on, guys. The only reason Moka hasn't sunk her fangs into me yet is because you're here, Tsukune." Moka looked like she'd just been slapped in the face. The thought that she was just using Tsukune as a walking blood bag was disgusting to her. She began to tear up at the things being said to her and she ran away. Tsukune shook his head at Ambrose but looked in pure anger at Kurumu, knowing it was her doing, before running off after Moka.

_I wasn't going to say that! _Ambrose yelled in his mind, rare amounts of emotion entering his mind. _What the hell is going on here!?_

~Freshman at Yokai~

_Yes! _Kurumu thought triumphantly as she sat on the bed in the nurse's office, Ambrose sat just beside her with his head down slightly. _I did it! I made that floozy cry! Ooh, the look of shock on her face! That felt too good! _She didn't even realise that her tail had appeared and was wagging maniacally as she thought this. _Now it'll be a cinch to make Ambrose my slave, and then… _She looked at her target with a smile on her face.

_This is too strange, _Ambrose pondered. _I hadn't intended to act like that. What the hell is going on here?_

"Ambrose..." Kurumu said as she noticed Ambrose's thinking position. He looked up and was greeted with a hug… that had his face pressed between Kurumu's breasts.

_What the fuck is going on? _Ambrose wondered as he tried not to suffocate. _One second I'm talking to Tsukune and Moka, the next I'm following Kurumu to the nurse's office. Unless… _Ambrose's thoughts were about to lead him somewhere when Kurumu spoke up again.

"I know you're feeling down, Ambrose," she soothed him. "I'm sorry… let me hold you and make it all better…"

Despite not being a pervert, Ambrose had to fight his hormones to avoid enjoying this.

~Freshman at Yokai~

"Is she right?" Moka asked herself as Tsukune sat next to her, rubbing her back soothingly. "Do I really only hang out with you because of your blood?"

"Hell no," Tsukune said. "You're one of the nicest people I've ever met. There's no way you'd use _anyone _like that."

"_**Idiots!" **_the voice they'd heard earlier shocked them. **_"Ambrose is under a spell!"_**

Moka made an 'eep' noise. "Where the hell is that coming from?" Tsukune asked in confusion, looking around them rapidly.

"_**Allure, a typical Succubus spell for enslaving men," **_the voice explained. Tsukune found it familiar for a moment before placing it as 'Inner' Moka's voice. The was further supported by the glow the Rosary Beat was giving off whenever the voice appeared.

"You're the Moka that came out when I took off the Rosario!" Tsukune exclaimed upon realising the truth.

"What?" Moka gasped.

"_**I am your other self," **_the voice confirmed. **_"Speaking from deep within your psyche, using the Rosario as a medium. A Succubus is a demon that confounds men. It's said that a man who is kissed by one will be her slave forever. You two had better hurry, before the poor sap is lost for good!"_**

~Freshman at Yokai~

Ambrose was being pushed down onto the bed by Kurumu, who never once broke eye contact with him to ensure he did exactly what she wanted.

"Kurumu…?" he breathed. _Why can't I move? _He wondered. _My brain's all fuzzy, and I've got no control of my body. This seems so familiar…_

_Ooh, I love this moment! _Kurumu cheered in her mind. _The kiss that seals the conquest… and slaps that little twit's face! _She leaned further towards him, intending on connecting their lips and making him her slave for good.

_Oh, fuck! _Ambrose finally realised. _Mind control! I remember mum telling me about this! But that means… Succubus! I need to get out of this! _Ambrose struggled in his mind as she got closer and closer to his face. It took all of his will, the struggle was incredibly painful to his head, but eventually he broke free just enough to push himself up and hug her instead.

_What…? _Kurumu was shocked by the turn of events. _How…?_

"I'm not all that fond of people messing with my head," Ambrose said, a little anger breaking through is otherwise stoic demeanour. "Don't you dare try that again, _Succubus."_

_No way…! _Kurumu shouted in her head. _I hit him with Allure! I hit him with the full press! _"How…?" she asked. "How can you resist me!?" Her anger at being defied broke through any sort of calmness she had left about her. "Is she that much better than I am!?"

"This has nothing to do with Moka," Ambrose shook his head. "You came at the wrong person if you were hoping for that. Now, I'm going to leave, and we're going to forget about this." He didn't particularly want to fight. He didn't like having his head fucked with, but he didn't really want to hurt anyone over this sort of thing. They were teenagers, only just really discovering what they could really do, some of them were bound to try it.

But Kurumu didn't listen.

"I humiliated myself for you!" Kurumu screamed, two mounds pushing up from her back. "I even acted _weak _for you!" The two mounds ripped through her clothes, revealing two large purple wings. "I've _never _lost to _anyone! _Never – until Moka Akashiya!" Her arrow-point tail revealed itself once again through her skirt and waved around, though not in happiness this time. "NOW I'M MAD! WHATEVER SHE LOVES, I'LL DESTROY IT!"

Ambrose thought this would be a fantastic time to get into his true form and fight. Unfortunately, apparently fate had other plans. Kurumu's nails sharpened into long, razor-sharp claws, which she then used to slash at Ambrose, who held up his arm to guard himself and ended up with his left arm pissing blood at a rapid pace.

"STOP!" came a very welcome voice. Kurumu turned her head in confusion just in time to be pushed away by Moka… and right through the window, taking a good chunk of wall with it. "Stay away from my friends!"

"Looks like we got here just on time," Tsukune said as he approached Ambrose, who was standing up clutching his wounded arm.

"A couple of minutes earlier would've done me just fine," Ambrose said, getting a laugh from Tsukune in the process. "I figured out what was going on, but then she went a bit mental. You'd think we've done something to offend her."

"I'm sorry, that's sort of my fault," Moka explained. "She has some grudge against me and she's trying to get back at me by going after you."

"That makes… absolutely no sense," Ambrose shook his head in confusion. "Why would she…? Oh, bollocks..." Moka and Tsukune looked confused, until they saw where he was looking and turned to see.

"Knocking me all the way out here..." Kurumu growled, her wings flapping as she hovered in the air outside the window. She was glaring harshly at Moka. "I suppose you think you're strong. Now try it without the _surprise. _I'll finish all three of you at the same time!" She flew at them as fast as she could and grabbed Ambrose, then attempted to fly off. But Moka and Tsukune thought quickly and grabbed onto his legs so that they would fly with them. Kurumu carried the three, determined not to show them how much she was struggling with their combined weight, before letting go of Ambrose and letting the trio smack into the trees below.

"I don't think she's overly fond of being pushed out of windows," Ambrose grunted as he struggled to his feet. "Do either of you have a plan?" He would have tried to fight, but his wounded arm was proving to be a real pain in his ass.

"Tsukune," Moka said suddenly. "Take my Rosario off!" Tsukune stared at her as if she were insane for a moment. "Please, Tsukune! I can't take it off by myself! But I've got to be able to free my powers!"

"Sounds like a sound enough plan," Ambrose commented, really wanting this entire thing to end.

"Saying your little goodbyes!?" called Kurumu from above them, nothing but killing intent in her eyes. "How sweet!" She swooped down at them, the trio ducking just in time to dodge her attack, but her claws ended up slicing through all the trees she came into contact with.

_Trees!? _Tsukune panicked in his mind. _Her claws took out the goddamn trees!_

"Pull this off or she'll kill us!" Moka exclaimed, getting directly in front of Tsukune and holding out her Rosario for him.

"Okay," he said quickly. He grabbed ahold of the cross around Moka's neck and pulled… but the Rosario didn't come off. He pulled again, and again, and again. "It's not coming off! Why isn't it coming off!? It was easy last time!"

"All my rage – over _nothing!" _Kurumu shouted from above them, preparing to come down for another swoop. "Weaklings, that's all you are! _Dead _weaklings!" She began shooting towards them at top speeds, intent on going in for the kill.

Ambrose closed his eyes and prepared for the inevitable. With this moment, it would all be over. Everything that had happened in the last few months would finally come to fruition, and Ambrose would know peace. He would be with his family again.

Tsukune cringed away in fear, only for Moka to hug him, putting herself between him and Kurumu.

_Everything's clear to me now, _Moka thought. _I shouldn't have listened to Kurumu. It's **Tsukune **I want to protect, not just his blood. _"TSUKUNE AND AMBROSE ARE MY FRIENDS!" she shouted at the rapidly approaching Succubus. "THAT IS MY HEART'S TRUTH! IF IT'S _ME _YOU HATE – JUST KILL _ME!_"

"My, aren't you cute!?" Kurumu taunted her as she got even closer. She didn't intend to let any of them live.

_She would go this far… for me? _Tsukune thought as he looked at the girl who was currently holding onto him. _I won't let her! I WON'T LET MOKA SUFFER FOR ME! _Using his new found willpower, Tsukune grabbed onto the Rosario and gave a mighty yank, pulling it from its spot on Moka's neck. And an all-too familiar glow filled the area.

_Well, _Ambrose thought, wondering whether or not he should be happy. _It looks like it might not be over just yet._

"What's this!?" Kurumu demanded, shielding her eyes from the vicious glow. "What's happening!?"

_I did it, _Tsukune said in his mind. _For good or ill… I've freed the Monster inside of her. The other Moka – her true nature!_

"So much power..." Kurumu said in awe and fear. "It can't be hers…!" _Her hair… _she observed. _Turning from pink to silver!? Just like the legends! She really is… a… _"Vampire!" Kurumu finally yelled out in shock as she saw Inner Moka standing where Outer Moka had just been with a cocky grin on her face.

_Just in time, too. Weird… when I got really desperate, it came right off! How does this work!? _Tsukune stared at the Rosario in his hands with a relieved yet confused expression on his face. The situation was strange, indeed.

"Well, it looks like the cavalry is here," Ambrose breathed out. "Is there any chance we could end this quickly? My arm is killing me."

"No..." Kurumu growled under her breath. "I WON'T LOSE! I CAN'T! The race of Succubi are dying out!" This got Ambrose to look up, confusion and familiarity filling his features. "Therefore each of us has one great mission – to find a male worthy of fathering her offspring! That's why I wanted to enslave the boys of Yokai – because surely _one _of them would be Monster enough to become my 'Mate of Fate!' But you, Moka Akashiya, ruined all that! And you will pay!"

"…I will pay?" Inner Moka asked. "For interfering with your selfish little plans? You, sweetheart, need to learn a little bit of-" Her eyes sharpened at the Succubus. "-humility."

Ambrose had ignored the entire confrontation up to this point. A multitude of thoughts were running through his head. _I've never heard a thing about this! Well, then again, mum did say some of her information was a tad outdated. But, still! I understand now, she's doing this all to save her people! Her entire race is at stake! _The more he thought about the situation, the more he found himself understanding Kurumu's motives.

Kurumu screamed in rage as she flew at Inner Moka. She intended to slash her to pieces with her claws and get this Vampire out of the way as quickly as possible. If only Inner Moka hadn't dodged out of the way at the last minute and grabbed her tail.

"Too slow," Inner Moka said before she started swinging Kurumu, by her tail, above her head. "What if I pull this off?" she asked. "Will you learn your place?"

"PLEASE!" Kurumu screamed. The pain in her tail was too much for her to handle.

Unfortunately for Kurumu, Inner Moka had no intention of just letting this end. She kept a hold of Kurumu's tail, and used it to violently **SMASH **the Succubus into the ground, cracking the floor in the process. Kurumu lay there in a daze as Inner Moka stared at her with contempt.

"Your attacks are too direct, too angry," Inner Moka lectured Kurumu. "You act so tough, but you're just a little girl. And you'll never get any older." She started approaching the downed Succubus, who looked on in fear as the Vampire came to finish her off.

_No… _Ambrose objected in his mind. _No! **No! NO! **I can't let this happen! _He used what strength he had left, his blood had since stopped leaking from his arm, and rushed to stand between Inner Moka and her snivelling prey on the ground.

"What are you doing?" Inner Moka asked, irritation entering her tone. "Get out of the way! That witch almost killed you, remember?"

"I know," Ambrose agreed. "But it wouldn't be the first time someone's tried. Yes, there are plenty of people in the world who have it coming, but Kurumu isn't one of them. You heard her, this entire thing has been to save her species, her entire _race_, Moka. A Monster's race is their family. Is there anything you wouldn't do for your family?"

"I wouldn't act like a complete fool," she coldly told him. Eventually she relented and took her Rosario back from Tsukune. Before she put it on, she decided to give one final warning. "If she causes trouble like this again, it'll be on your head as much as it will be on hers." She then put the Rosario back on her necklace and became pink-haired Outer Moka once more.

And so that hellish day ended with a passed out Moka clinging onto Tsukune, and Ambrose standing with a sobbing Succubus behind him.

~Freshman at Yokai~

"The Rosario talked to you guys?" Ambrose asked. Since the previous day, he'd returned to his stoic demeanour. All the excitement of the day before had simply shocked him out of it. He was good old sarcastic Ambrose again. "Does it give directions?"

"I guess, in a way, it does," Tsukune nodded, laughing at his friend.

"It told us what Kurumu was doing to you," Moka told him. "The voice from my Rosario saved your life."

"Hm," Ambrose hummed, before looking at the Rosario. "Thank you," he said, hoping that Inner Moka could hear him.

"Tsukune..." Moka said, worry entering her voice. "Tell me the truth… If the Rosario stops working… will you still like me?"

"Don't be stupid!" Tsukune scolded her. "I don't care if you get scary or drink blood! To me, you'll always be Moka!"

The two of them started staring into each other's eyes in a dream-like trance.

"Tsukune..." Moka breathed.

"Moka..." Tsukune mirrored her tone of voice.

"Good morning!" came a voice they'd been well-acquainted with the day before. All three of the friends turned to see Kurumu coming towards them with some sort of basket in her arms.

""Kurumu!"" Moka and Tsukune yelled simultaneously.

"Good morning, Kurumu," Ambrose greeted politely. Ever since the day before, he'd decided to be as nice to her as possible. Someone who's only main concern was the survival of her race didn't deserve any less.

"Wh-What are you doing here?" Moka asked the Succubus once she'd recovered from the shock.

"I baked some cookies for you, Ambrose!" Kurumu said as she held the basket out to him. He sniffed in the air around the basket to take in the scent.

"Well, they certainly smell good," Ambrose complimented her. "But I'm a little curious as to why…?"

"Remember how I said I have to find a 'Mate of Fate?'" Kurumu asked him, getting a nod in response. "Well, I have! And it's you!"

""WHAT!?" Tsukune and Moka once again shouted in perfect sync. This girl had been prepared to _kill _him yesterday, yet now she wanted him to be her mate for life?

"Well, that was certainly unexpected," Ambrose rubbed the back of his neck, at a loss and having nothing else he could really say.

"You risked your life to save mine!" Kurumu exclaimed, the smile never leaving her face. "I'm in love!"

"I sincerely doubt that," Ambrose said. "You more likely have a crush that you're mistaking for love. I find it rather hard to believe that you love me after a day. This is _not _Frozen."

"Oh, don't worry, I'll convince you," Kurumu said, smirking. She _would _get him to see the love they shared if it killed her! "Meanwhile, we need to figure out who we invite to the wedding!"

_Well, this year just got more interesting, _thought Ambrose. _I ended up saving a girl who was trying to kill me, that's quite funny if I think about it. I don't care what she says, it's pretty much impossible to love someone this quickly. But… I can't bring myself to crush her dreams of helping her species survive. Especially when I couldn't save mine…_

* * *

**I found a typo in the manga while I was writing this. Instead of 'pink to silver' Kurumu says that Moka's hair goes from 'brown to silver.' I never noticed that before. And before any of you bitch about how apparently the Succubi aren't dying out in the manga, I'd like to tell you that I took that entire speech directly from the manga. So either you're making stuff up, or it's translated differently where you read it.**

***Bitesize Monster Encyclopedia**

**Succubus: A female spirit identified since the middle ages who enters the dreams of sleeping men to seduce them.**

**Next Chapter: Enter: Mermaids**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello and welcome to chapter three of Freshman at Yokai! I'm on a role with these chapters!**

**SharpRevan: I am totally going to do that. Thank you for the idea!**

**victoria cullen33: Thank you so much! Appreciate the support.**

* * *

Enter: Mermaids

A month had passed since the beginning of the year at Yokai Academy. A month of Tsukune Aono pretending to be a Monster. A month of living in fear of what would happen if any of the students or teachers found out about his true status as a human. There were only two people in the entire school who knew of Tsukune's true identity: Moka Akashiya, a Vampire. And Ambrose Holt, a Wendigo.

"R-Really? It's okay?" Moka asked him, a nervously worried look on her face accompanied by a large blush.

Tsukune was sweating. It was just before school and Ambrose was off getting his breakfast, which made Tsukune cringe a bit when he heard about it. "Yes..." he told her. He was really unsure about this. There were just so many reasons he should be nervous about his current situation.

"Oh, Tsukune," Moka said, leaning closer to him. "I'm so happy..."

"Moka..." Tsukune sighed, his nervousness vanishing as he looked into her eyes.

"This is the first time..." Moka breathed, leaning ever closer to Tsukune's face. "That you're voluntarily letting me suck your blood!" She made a remarkably happy noise as she sank her small fangs into Tsukune's neck and started sucking the sweet red substance out of it.

It occurred to Tsukune once again that the only reason he really stayed at the academy was so that he could get closer to Moka. A great idea, except for the whole blood thing. When she finally released his neck from the confines of her teeth, Moka sighed in happiness.

"You're so delicious!" she exclaimed, licking the remaining blood from her lips.

_Not to mention anaemic, _Tsukune thought as he struggled to keep his balance. _Something she just doesn't seem to understand. Is it too simple just to be friends?_

One thing that Tsukune would come to learn throughout the course of the year, was that nothing was ever going to be simple while he was dealing with Monsters.

~Freshman at Yokai~

"As you all know," Ms. Nekonome told her class. "The goal of this academy is to teach Monsters to coexist with human society. It's time to bring that to the next level! Starting today, you will each join a club!"

Murmuring broke out among the students at this announcement. Clubs? What clubs were there? Why did they need to join one? Which one had the cutest girls? The list of questions being asked went on and on and on. Some students were excited by the opportunity, others were groaning at the idea of having to give up even more of their free time.

"There's no better way to understand human thinking than by participating in human sports and hobbies," Ms. Nekonome explained. "Plus, you'll get so much better at physical transformation by having to keep your human forms during different activities."

"Um… Sensei..." a student raised his hand, with what appeared to be a smirk on his face. Everyone had noticed, but only he was stupid enough to point it out.

"Yes?" Ms. Nekonome smiled at him.

"What club did you practice keeping your human form at?" the student asked, laughing and gesturing at the cat tail that had emerged from her skirt. And that was it. This idiotic student had signed his own death warrant.

Ms. Nekonome looked down at what he was looking at, noticed her tail, and made an angry meowing noise. She then proceeded to scratch the hell out of the student's face. Numerous hisses, groans and whispers filled with sympathy sounded throughout the classroom as Ms. Nekonome mutilated the face of her student.

"Now, any more questions about club participation?" Ms. Nekonome asked the class. All the students watched scratch-face in varying degrees of horror as they very quickly shook their heads at their teacher. "Excellent! Then look over the list of clubs available and pick the one that suits you! Come check out my newspaper club, too!" A little shameless self-advertising thrown in at the end never hurt anyone.

_Clubs, huh? _Ambrose thought. _I don't really care. I'll probably end up just following around Tsukune and Moka and join whatever club they do… Followed shortly by Kurumu, no doubt. _Over the last three weeks he'd gotten very used to the Succubus trying to seduce him constantly. While at the moment he didn't really have any romantic interest in her, he still had a sort of fondness for her cheerful personality. It was actually quite contagious, even if he didn't outwardly show his good moods a lot of the time. And he finally knew how Tsukune felt, getting the attention of a girl a lot of guys were lusting over.

Tsukune, meanwhile, saw this as an opportunity to get closer to Moka. Joining the same club as her was a sure-fire way to spend as much of his free time with her as possible. He just had to find the club he was least likely to die in.

How hard could it be?

~Freshman at Yokai~

"Whoa!" Tsukune exclaimed. There were stalls for clubs _everywhere! _The students milling about outside the school were chattering about in excitement at the many club choices that were available to them. They had literally everything. Even a bunch of really weird shit that most Monsters wouldn't even think about, yet some of them were joining. It was an incredible sight to behold.

"Do you think they could fit any more clubs in?" Ambrose asked. The number of choices lead him to believe it was going to take them a while.

"This is amazing!" Tsukune said. "I didn't think there'd be so many!"

"What club should we join, Tsukune?" Moka asked him. She knew as soon as the clubs had been announced that she would join the same one as Tsukune. And hopefully Kurumu and Ambrose would join as well. Moka and Kurumu had actually become really good friends in the last few weeks, since they both ended up talking about their respective crushes. They talked about other stuff, too, but that was the one they initially bonded over.

"How about the swim club?" Tsukune suggested, making Moka's happy face fade as severe amounts of nervousness took over. "My parents forced me to go to a swimming school during elementary school. Something about physical fitness," he explained. _With swimming at least I can look good in front of Moka. _The thoughts running through his head were a lot more optimistic than the reality of the situation.

"Oh… but… I… um..." Moka tried to tell him something.

"I don't think that would be the best..." Ambrose tried to help her explain the situation, but was interrupted by her.

"It's still too soon to decide!" she argued. "Let's check out more!" She grabbed him by the hand and began dragging Tsukune off around the place.

"I think we should stick with them," Ambrose told Kurumu, who was clinging to his arm the entire time.

"Whatever you say, Ambrose!" Kurumu told him in her usual cheerful tone. They walked off together, arm in arm, after Tsukune and Moka.

"Hey… it's Moka..." a student running one of the clubs said.

"So that's the freshman girl everyone says is so hot..." another said. "And that blue-haired girl, Kurumu, such big..."

"Man… they're incredible..." All the students who hadn't yet met the two freshman girls were mesmerised by their beauty. "I've never seen girls so cute..."

"Moka! Kurumu!" a voice called to them from one of the many stalls. "Do you want to be models?" They looked to see a very, _very _creepy looking ghost with a camera staring at them perversely. "Please model for our Ghost Photography Club! Let us take lots of pictures! Are nudes okay?" He grinned like a sick bastard and lifted the camera to his face.

"RUN, MOKA!" Tsukune shouted, pulling her away from the lecherous ghost as he snapped pictures of them.

"I don't think we'll be joining that lot," Ambrose said, doing the same thing with Kurumu. He may not have loved her, but he was still very much against perversion. He wouldn't ever want to see any girl subjected to what those ghosts had in mind.

Unfortunately, the next few clubs they ran into weren't much better.

"Won't you girls join our science club?" a student with large glasses and a lab coat asked. "You can help test our new love potion!"

"No! Join our puncture club!" a student covered in different sized needles asked.

"Mummy club!" a bandage-wrapped student yelled at them.

_Too weird! Too weird! _Tsukune yelled in his head. _Aren't there any normal clubs in this school!? Of course, there's always the swim club…_

"I'm the club president, Tamao Ichinose," the girl in charge of the swim club introduced herself to the students surrounding them. She had turquoise hair, fair skin and yellow eyes. She wore a dark green swimsuit that showed off her figure. "C'mon in. The water's fine." This offer was made even more appealing to the male audience as every single member of the swim club happened to be a rather attractive, scantily clad girl.

"Can't say I approve of the tactic, but you've got to give them points for creativity," Ambrose commented before sniffing the air a little. "Does anyone else smell fish?" There was a slight fishy smell in the air that he couldn't really place. The three he was with all shook their heads, so he just brushed it off as hi imagination.

"Whoa! Swim club!" one of the many boys watching the show cheered.

"Swim suits! Wrapped around hot girls!" another cried out in happiness.

"Right now, our club's all girls," Tamao said as she flaunted her body to the crowd, taking a particular interest in Tsukune as she rubbed his cheek for a moment. "I guarantee we'd make you feel welcome." Her voice had a slow, sultry tone to it.

"ME! ME! I'LL JOIN!" one of the boys in the crowd yelled eagerly.

"ME, TOO! I LOVE TO SWIM!" his friend soon joined him.

_At last, _Tsukune thought, relief washing through him. _A club that looks normal. _Ignoring the rather promiscuous display of Tamao and the girls of the swim club, this actually looked like something he'd enjoy.

_Moka won't be happy about that, _Ambrose mused. _Or maybe the Vampire stuff mum showed me was outdated and they've evolved out of their water allergy. I don't know, she never told me about the Succubi's impending extinction, so anything is possible. _He looked to his side, where Kurumu had a certain glint in her eyes. She was planning something.

"Welcome then..." Tamao said in an even happier tone of voice. "To the Yokai Academy Swim Club!" All of the Swim Club girls put on poses to show off their bodies to the boys surrounding them, causing most of the boys to have comedic love hearts appear in their eyes, which oddly went noticed by everyone.

"Everybody into the pool!" Tamao encouraged them, gesturing to a small stand that said 'Suits' on it. "We've got swimsuits for you!" All the boys practically charged forward as they went to grab a pair of swimming trunks, Ambrose took his sweet time. He was only here because his friends were, if they ran out of suits he'd just have to find another club. Tsukune stood there, staring into the pool as some of the newly changed boys were given 'swimming lessons' by the numerous girls of the club.

"You've got to admit, this looks fun," Tsukune told Moka with a large smile on his face. _And a perfect way to score points with Moka! _He cheered in his mind, thinking his plan as fool-proof in every way possible.

"Um… Tsukune..." Moka spoke up shyly. "I don't really want to swim..."

"What…?" he asked as his perfect plan was blown to bits in seconds by that one sentence. _I guess she just doesn't understand how I feel, _he thought, believing she just doesn't like swimming all that much. _So much for my dream of seeing her in a swimsuit…_

"Hey! What are you doing over there!?" someone asked as Tsukune was approached by the attractive form of Tamao. "You're supposed to be in this pool!" She grabbed onto him and pulled him over with her to get him a swimsuit.

"M-M-Ms. President!?" he stuttered, not really registering what was going on. Then she threw him to the girls who ran the swimsuit stall so that they could get him changed.

"He's so cute!" one of them gushed as they began taking his uniform off of him.

"Take it off! Take it off!" another urged the others. Eventually it ended with them getting the swimming trunks on him.

"So… you're the famous Moka Akashiya," Tamao said as she approached Moka. "I hear rumours that you're a Vampire. True? In any case, this is the Swim Club." She smirked at Moka as she spoke. "If you aren't here to swim..." Moka could only stare and sweat as she made her decision.

Meanwhile, Ambrose was lounging around the pool. He'd been given offers for 'lessons' by the girls of the club, but had turned them down. He _was _in school to learn, but he was pretty sure they already covered Sex Ed in the actual school, so he didn't see any need for it here.

"Hey, Ambrose~" came the chipper voice of his self-proclaimed 'girlfriend.' He originally thought it would be annoying to have anyone call themselves that, and in a sense he had been right. He could do without some of the glares he got from male students a lot of the time, but as annoying as they were, they weren't an actual hindrance to his health so he just rolled with it. Although Kurumu did prove to be forward enough to make him blush, which was a rather unique thing in itself.

"Hello, Kurumu..." Ambrose struggled to find words. She managed to get him to blush with all her clothes _on, _so in the two-piece bikini she was currently wearing… Well, it wouldn't be fair to say his brain was mush, but he was certainly a lot further down Aroused Lane than he was usually willing to go. "You're looking… nice."

The smile she wore turned into more of a sultry smirk. "Oh, so you like this?" She jumped into the pool next to him, making a small splash in the process, and squeezed his arm between her breasts. "You like it when I wear this?"

"You are certainly more… attractive, yes," he admitted. This wasn't a situation he was used to. He was normally quite in control of his hormones, not to mention the fact that he'd only met her three weeks ago (he chose to overlook the circumstances). But at the same time, he was still very much a teenage boy, and as such it was still possible to get this sort of reaction out of him. Fortunately, he thought of a way to distract himself from this, even though she'd probably use it as an opportunity to do even more.

"You want to race around the pool?" he asked. The reason he suggested this was that he was more athletic, not overly muscular but still athletic, and knew he could stay ahead, thus keeping from any more of these moments. Perversion just wasn't him, no matter the circumstances. He wanted to know for sure he at least liked her romantically before he would even _think _about that sort of thing.

Her smirk widened, a challenging playfulness entering her eyes as she responded. "You're on."

~Freshman at Yokai~

"You're quite good at that," Ambrose commented as he and Kurumu sat, side-by-side on the edge of the pool, the others in the club still partaking in something that was a step away from becoming an orgy. He was having trouble believing that these girls weren't planning something. On the off-chance that they weren't up to no good, they were sluts, in which case he would leave. He already had one horny, attractive girl to deal with, he didn't need any more.

"That strength I showed when I picked you three up wasn't just for show, you know," Kurumu told him, a content smile on her face. As much time as she spent trying to seduce him into liking her, she also enjoyed simply spending time talking to him like this. She'd claimed to be his girlfriend on numerous occasions, and he hadn't bothered to argue, so most of the students in their class thought they were in a relationship anyway. In truth, he may not have argued but he hadn't necessarily accepted it either, so she'd just have to try harder to get him to feel the same way she does. She thought it would be a piece of cake, given the 'assets' she had at her disposal, but his rather stoic personality made it hard to read whether or not her tactics were working.

"I can see that," he told her. He sniffed the air, trying to pick up where the unpleasant smell of fish was coming from to no avail. So he decided to give up and get back to the conversation. "I'm impressed. There aren't many Monsters that can keep up with me while in their human form."

"Yeah, I can see that." Kurumu scanned up and down his toned body with a pink blush dusting her cheeks.

Meanwhile, Moka was sat by the pool, staring into it with a less than happy look on her face. She was watching Tamao 'teach' Tsukune swimming techniques, her mind flooding with anger, frustration and sadness at what Tsukune was doing at the present time. Tamao had her arms all over him as she tried to make it look like she was trying to help him, when it was painfully obvious she was trying to seduce him. It was a pattern Moka would have noticed all over the pool if it weren't for her attention being focused on Tsukune's situation.

"My, Tsukune," Tamao said while grabbing onto his arm. "You have such great form!"

"You think so?" Tsukune asked her nervously. The entire point of this was an attempt to impress/get closer to Moka, and it was failing spectacularly.

"You just need to work on moving your wrists," Tamao told him. Then she started twisting his wrist around in her hands, carefully, making sure that his hand brushed across her breasts a few times. "Like this." She found her way behind him and held his arm out while putting her other hand on the spot just between his neck and his torso. "That's it, looking good."

_This is so hot, _Tsukune thought to himself, his hormones fighting for control of his body. _Must… resist… teenage… hormones…_

"Tamao sure is mature," one of the boys watching Tsukune and Tamao interact said.

"But why is that Tsukune guy so popular!?" one of his two friends asked. They were tired of seeing this guy get all the girls.

"First he shows up with Moka, and now…" the third shook his head at the scene. How were any of them going to get any girls with Tsukune around!?

"""One of these days I'm gonna kill him!""" all three of them growled at once, their anger at Tsukune's popularity completely filling their minds.

_What the hell am I doing? _Tsukune asked himself. _Somehow I seem to be getting farther and farther away from my original goal… _While he thought this he was swimming around the pool, Tamao still trying to cling to him the entire time, with a smile on his face in an attempt to make it look like he was enjoying himself. And he was ashamed to admit, he sort of was.

"...So that's Tsukune," one of the girls of the club sighed dreamily, though not for the reason you would think.

"I see why Tamao set her sights on him," another girl said.

"No fooling! He's a real catch!" a third girl cheered in agreement.

"I just wish I'd talked to him first," the fourth in the gathered group told them with a regret-filled tone.

""""I'd love to have him all to myself,"""" all four of them sighed at once. Tamao was clinging to Tsukune from behind again, pretending to teach him better swimming techniques. She took a glance at Moka on the side of the pool and smirked at her, leading the pink-haired Vampire to glare at Tamao with hurt filling her eyes at Tsukune's actions.

"Tsukune's a real smooth guy, isn't he?" Ambrose asked sarcastically. He was looking at the display and he felt sorry for poor Moka. Tsukune may not have been able to see it, but he was already really close to Moka, so there was really no point to joining the Swim Club anyway. Ambrose sighed. If Tsukune wasn't careful he would end up loosing a truly precious friendship.

"Why did he join this club to begin with?" Kurumu asked. "Doesn't he know that Vampires are weak to water?" She was quite angry at Tsukune for making Moka upset like this. Moka was her best friend and Tsukune was really hurting her right now. The worst part was that he didn't seem to realise, like he was completely oblivious to her feelings. In truth, he wasn't, he was just looking for an opportunity to get away from Tamao.

"I'm not sure what he does and doesn't know at this point," Ambrose admitted. "He's a rather… _unique _person." That was probably the closest he could get to telling Kurumu that Tsukune was a human. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, it's just that most Monsters didn't hold a very high opinion of humans, and she was likely raised to see them as scum. Better safe than sorry, his mother always said. "Let's just hope he figures it out before he ruins a good thing." Kurumu could only nod in agreement.

Moka continued to stare into the pool, a smile on her face. This wasn't a happy smile, mind you, this was a 'I'm going to kill the next person to speak to me' smile. The kind someone puts on when they're really pissed off and aren't afraid to show it by looking as scary as possible. She looked and stared, at Tamao, at Tsukune, at everyone in the water, and something in her head finally snapped. She stood up and did something no one in their friendship group expected: She shouted in rage.

"ENOUGH ALREADY!" she screamed at Tsukune and Tamao. Startling Tsukune and making Tamao's smirk widen. "Tsukune, did you join the Swim Club just so you can flirt with girls!? I can't keep watching this! I'm leaving!" She began to stalk off, her anger and hurt at seeing Tsukune with Tamao finally forcing her to act. She was stopped briefly, however, when Tsukune called out to her in desperation.

"No! Wait! You don't understand!" he yelled, trying to get her to come back. "I just wanted to swim with you, Moka! Really, I-"

"No!" Moka interrupted him, turning to face the pool once again. "You're the one who doesn't understand!" She saw the confused and shocked expression Tsukune had on his face and tried to explain. "Tsukune… I..." She never got to finish, however, because some water was splashed onto her from the pool, making her recoil in pain as if she'd been hit.

"You're free to watch," Tamao told Moka, smirking at the pain she'd just caused her. "But take your fights elsewhere. Although if you ask me, it's a waste of time to care if you're understood or not. The only thing that matters between a man and a woman is… take or be taken!"

Moka was still shaking from the pain, tears filling her eyes and mixing with the water that now covered her. She looked at the pool and decided she'd been there long enough, running away before any more pain could be inflicted onto her. "Wait for me, Tsukune!" she yelled back before vanishing completely. Tsukune looked after her with confusion and worry filling his expression. Ambrose and Kurumu watched the scene with serious expressions on their faces.

"I take Tsukune and you take Moka?" Ambrose suggested to Kurumu.

"Sure," she agreed before getting up and running off after where Moka had gotten to. Ambrose then went towards where Tsukune and Tamao were, though Tsukune had drifted away from Tamao quite a bit.

"Quite the lady killer, aren't you?" Ambrose asked with a raised eyebrow. Tsukune could only look down in shame at what he'd caused. "Look, Tsukune, I can't tell you how to act. Nor can I tell you how women work, it's something I'm still working out myself, to be quite frank. But I can tell you that getting cuddly with bikini-clad girls while leaving Moka on the sidelines wasn't the best way to go."

"…Any suggestions?" Tsukune asked. "I fucked up bad, I can see that. How do you think I should fix this?"

"I don't know," Ambrose admitted, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Just start with an apology and see where it goes from there."

Tsukune nodded in agreement. True, he'd messed up pretty badly here. But he'd try and make things up to Moka, then they'd join a different club, one that she was comfortable in. Yeah, this would all turn out all right.

Meanwhile, Tamao wore a large grin as her plans were about to come to fruition. _Well, _she thought, _I guess the rumours were true._

~Freshman at Yokai~

Moka had made her way to a secluded area of the school. Since all of the students were out looking at and joining clubs, it wasn't that hard. She stood, writhing slightly in pain from the exposure to water. If one looked closely enough you could see small sparks coming from her skin from the water-soaked areas.

"_**You idiot!" **_the voice of Inner Moka scolded her from the Rosario. **_"Why would you even go near a pool!? What did you think would happen if you got wet!? Water is the Vampire's natural enemy! It's shorting out your powers! You may as well just stab yourself with a wooden stake!* Your body happens to be mine, too, you know! Don't mess with it! And don't let that lamb-brained Tsukune push you around!"_**

"I… don't want it..." Moka whispered, her voice wavering as more small bursts of pain and went throughout her body. Luckily enough, they were starting to subside a little now.

"…_**What?" **_Inner Moka asked, confused by what Outer Moka said.

"I don't want this body any more..." Outer Moka whimpered. "Why can't I be like everyone else? I'm a freak! I just want to go swimming… I just want to be with Tsukune..." It wasn't fair. The one thing Tsukune wanted to do for a club, was the one thing she couldn't do for risk of dying. This had to be some sort of cruel joke made by fate, bringing them together when it knew nothing would last. It just wasn't fair…

"Then go be with Tsukune," a friendly voice told her. Moka looked up to see Kurumu looking at her with a small smile on her face.

"W-What?" Moka asked, sniffling from the tears stinging her eyes. She didn't know how Kurumu expected her to be with Tsukune when that Tamao girl was swimming with him, doing God knows what.

"Go be with Tsukune," Kurumu repeated. "Recognising love is pretty much hard programmed into my DNA, Moka, I know he feels the same for you as you do for him. You just need to tell him stuff, rather than hoping he finds out for himself." Moka looked at her questioningly. "He doesn't know you're weak to water, does he?"

"…No," Moka admitted with a blush. In hindsight, it was a rather stupid decision to expect him to figure this out for himself.

"There you go," Kurumu smiled. "You need to communicate, that's the key to a healthy relationship. And that sounds weird coming from me, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, a little bit," Moka found herself giggling despite the situation. Kurumu soon joined her. The two best friends stayed there for a while more, waiting for Moka to recover so she could go and explain the situation to Tsukune.

If only things had been that simple…

~Freshman at Yokai~

Ambrose stood further away as he watched Tsukune with approval. Tsukune was about to take a step in fixing what he'd done when he joined this club. He was going to leave it.

"Tamao, I..." Tsukune tried to come up with a way of saying it that wouldn't sound rude. "I don't think I'll be joining the Swim Club, after all. I'm sorry." _Without Moka… I just don't care… _His thoughts were entirely preoccupied with the pink-haired Vampire he'd come to be such great friends with.

All Tamao could do was smirk. "Don't be ridiculous, Tsukune," she chastised him. "Right after we got rid of that annoying little Moka? The fun's just starting! Didn't I tell you?" She held up a hand, a hand that was now webbed and clawed and scaled. "It's take..." she flashed him a grin with her newly sharpened teeth, "or be taken!" Screams began to erupt all around the pool. Tsukune and Ambrose looked around at the other members of the Swim Club to see the girls _biting _into the boys. They all tried to get away frantically, but upon being caught by the girls they were chomped on and began to lose all colour in their skin. Their skin shrivelled up and all life left their eyes, before they were left to sink to the bottom of the pool as the girls went to find a new victim.

"What!? They bite them and turn them into old men!" Tsukune yelled in shock. It was even more horrifying considering the boys appeared to die shortly afterwards.

"Heh, don't think too badly of us," Tamao said before diving beneath the water. The only traces Tsukune and Ambrose saw of her was a large fish tail smashing against the water as it went under. "We lure men to the water and suck out their life force. It's just the way we're made." Her voice was gurgled as she went under the water, yet was still heard clearly. "Want to play?"

"Mermaids*****," Ambrose observed. "I knew I smelt something fishy." One of the many Mermaids that now surrounded them tried to jump at him from under the water… and he punched her in the face. "I don't care if you're a girl, _no _biting." He noticed a few more Mermaids heading in his direction, so he prepared to take them on if need be. As it was, most of them were slowly making their way towards him while stopping to attack other targets. It was a terrifying scene to behold, only a few students lucky enough to be by the edge of the pool when it started had managed to climb out of the water. The rest were very unlucky, indeed.

Tsukune was so preoccupied with staring at the chaos around him that he didn't notice Tamao come up behind him until she was already holding him to her. "I've had my eye on you ever since the opening day ceremony!" she told him as she kept him in her grip. "I've been so hungry to meet you… because..." Tsukune looked around to see the cracked skin around her mouth as it exposed her Predator-like jaw and shark-like teeth. "You smell so nice… just like a _human!_ And now, finally, I get to eat you!" She opened her massive jaws wide and was about to go in for the bite. Ambrose was about to abandon his own struggle to run and help when another voice joined the fray.

"TSUKUNE!" came the shrill voice of Moka as she and Kurumu ran up to the pool, having heard the numerous screams coming from it. "What's going on here!?"

"Ambrose! Are you all right?" Kurumu asked as she saw him fending off a Mermaid in the pool.

"They're only Mermaids," he told her. "It could have been a lot worse." And it could have been. Wendigos don't reach full strength until the age of about twenty-two; they go through a sort of second puberty that only lasts a week before they gain their full-powered abilities. At that point the became quite strong, but until then they had the strength of a slightly more muscular human, which was quite enough to deal with a few Mermaids.

"What are you going to do, Vampire?" Tamao taunted Moka as she kept her tight grip on Tsukune, not planning on releasing him any time soon. "Jump into the water and fight me!? Come on! Bellyflop in and save your boyfriend! But you can't, can you!? Because you can't deal with water! So you're just gonna have to stand there… and watch!"

As it turned out, Moka wasn't planning on just sitting there and watching. In fact, she was diving into the water almost as soon as Tamao had finished her speech. _You think I can't? _she thought as she neared the water. _Well, I can… I can! _**SPLASH! **She landed in the water with a massive splash, and before she even knew what happened an overwhelming amount of pain filled her body.

"What's happening!?" Tsukune yelled as the small sparks Moka had been showing before turned into a massive amount on the surface of the water. "MOKA!"

"Do something!" Kurumu shouted at Tsukune since Ambrose was still dealing with his own problems. Two more of them, to be precise. "Why aren't you saving her!? Do you really not know!?"

"Know what!?" Tsukune asked.

"Water robs Vampires of their powers!" Kurumu told him. "It can even kill them!"

Now it was time for Tsukune to feel even worse. _I didn't… I didn't know. _He dived under the water, Tamao being far too distracted by Moka's apparent death wish to notice, and began swimming towards Moka low in the pool. _Moka…! What have I done…? _He finally reached her and hugged her unconscious form to him as he struggled to hold his breath. _Forgive me, Moka! _He grabbed her Rosario and gave it a mighty tug, releasing the thing from its spot on Moka's neck. Then the pool exploded with light.

The Mermaids all yelled out in shock and instinctively protected their eyes. The remaining boys in the pool all immediately took their advantage and climbed out of the pool, Ambrose included, and ran away, Ambrose not included. He stood by the pool with Kurumu to see what happened next.

_I did it! _Tsukune thought in triumph. _I pulled of her Rosario! _On the surface a hand came out of the water, followed by the rest of the body. It was Inner Moka, white hair, red eyes and all. And she looked _pissed! _Tsukune took this opportunity to also climb out of the pool.

"It can't be..." Tamao said to herself in denial. "So much… power… Is this what the rumours were all about!? Is she really this powerful…!?" Inner Moka looked at her with a very dangerous smirk present on her face. This was not an amused smirk, this was a pissed off beyond rational thought smirk.

"How..." Inner Moka said as sparks flew off of her body. "...Dare you!? And who are you… to ridicule _me!?"_

"I saw Tsukune first!" Tamao screamed at Inner Moka in defiance. "I'm not letting you have him!" She snapped her fingers and at her order all of the remaining Mermaids came swimming at Inner Moka at top speeds. "NOW DIE! I don't care how powerful you are – you're in our world now! If you want to beg for your life – now's the time!"

All she got was a small amused laugh from Inner Moka. "You think I'm afraid of a school of fish?" Inner Moka asked. "Don't make me laugh." As the Mermaids closed in around her, she leapt clean out of the pool and into the air above.

"You're slow!" Tamao told her. "And you're all talk! The perfect mid-air target! DIE!" All of the Mermaids began splashing water up at Inner Moka with their tails. If she felt the pain, she wasn't showing it. The only indication that there was any pain at all was all of the sparks flying off of her at the time. Tamao let off a laugh as she looked up at Inner Moka. "Mine!" She leapt into the air intent on ending Moka's life right there… only for Inner Moka to hit her directly in the jaw with her elbow on the way down, spilling blood from Tamao's huge mouth.

"Not very bright, are they?" Ambrose asked as he watched the fight. "Leaving your element for a quick kill is just a stupid way to go about it."

"Yeah," Kurumu agreed. "Mid-air isn't exactly their world, is it?"

"So easy to reel 'em in," Inner Moka mocked. "Just like a fish." She finished Tamao off with a swift kick to the face, sending the Mermaid leader reeling. All the other Mermaids were knocked out by the sheer impact Tamao hit the water with after Moka sent her down. There was more water outside the pool than inside at this point.

"Moka..." Tsukune said as he walked up to her with the Rosario. He wanted to apologise, this entire situation was his fault. If he'd only listened to her when she said she didn't want to swim, then… **smack! **

Inner Moka had slapped him across the face rather painfully.

"The other Moka was in tears," she all but growled at him. "Tormenting herself with feelings of worthlessness… just because she couldn't swim! Such are the wounds that living in the human world has left her with." Tsukune could only look down in shame as he rubbed his hand across the bruise forming on his cheek. "She deserves better than a fool like you who only thinks of himself! Get out of here… _human." _She spoke with venom before she stalked away, taking the Rosario with her to put on later. Tsukune looked down glumly and just let his head hang. That is until he felt a friendly hand on his shoulder. He looked to see Ambrose looking at him, not with a smile, but with an at least kind expression in his eyes.

"I'm not quite sure about that one, but the other Moka will forgive you," Ambrose assured Tsukune. "You know what she's like. She might actually be a bit too nice."

"Plus, you're one of the best friends she has," Kurumu reminded him. "Just wait for her to recover and see what happens." It was strange to see her not trying to seduce Ambrose, but even Kurumu knew when that sort of behaviour was appropriate and when it wasn't.

Tsukune really hoped they were right about this.

~Freshman at Yokai~

Moka didn't attend class the next day. Or the day after that. Three days later it was raining, everyone was going into school with umbrellas, and it pretty much summed up Tsukune's mood. Despite the reassurances his two friends were giving him, he couldn't help but worry about what would happen if Moka didn't forgive him. That thought brought a pain to his heart like you wouldn't believe. He was walking into school with Ambrose and Kurumu, who was latched onto Ambrose's arm as usual, when Ms. Nekonome approached them.

"Just the people I wanted to see!" she said in her usual upbeat tone. "Have you three decided what club to join? You three and Moka are the only ones who haven't made their choices."

"...No, I'm afraid we haven't," Tsukune told her in a depressed tone due to his situation. Not that their permanently happy teacher noticed, of course.

"Oh, I'm so glad!" she cheered. "Then you can all join my club, the Newspaper Club! Only one person's joined so far and it's on the brink of collapsing!"

"Newspaper Club…?" Tsukune asked himself. _Well, that sounds pretty safe… but… without Moka… I don't care which club I'm in… _"Honestly..."

"We'd love to join, Sensei!" called an upbeat voice. The four present turned to see Moka approaching them with a happy smile on her face. "Morning, Tsukune! Guys!" Her greeting was filled with much more happiness than her exit three days earlier.

"Moka!" Tsukune yelled in near ecstasy that she was back. "I was afraid you'd never come back..."

"I had to recuperate from the trauma I went through," she explained, basically meaning she overslept. Tsukune found himself lost in her dazzling smile, all fear forgotten.

"All right! We have a club!" Ms. Nekonome exclaimed in joy.

"Why the hell not?" Ambrose asked, rhetorically. "I'll join, too. How about you, Kurumu?" He turned to the girl clinging to his arm. "You going to join?"

"Don't be stupid," she told him. "Of course I'm joining!"

And that was the formation of the Newspaper Club, their friendship made official.

* * *

**You see how I killed off those guys in the Swim Club when they didn't die in canon? Yeah, that's because I have this strange need to make things dark. I don't know why, I just have this urge. Though, it doesn't go too far. I'm not as fucked up as some of the authors I've heard about.**

**Ambrose can NOT tell a Monster's species by their scent, otherwise he'd have known Kurumu was a Succubus instantly upon meeting her. But Wendigos have a more enhanced sense of smell compared to other species' and they can pick up trace scents of certain Monsters. Like how the Mermaids had a slight fish smell in their human form during this chapter, but Ambrose couldn't tell it was them. And another one I plan on using: Ghouls are going to smell like something akin to slightly rotten meat.**

**As an extra note, thanks to the manga timeline, I'd like to tell you a few timeline differences between the anime and the manga (which is what I'm following). Yukari doesn't come in until after the formation of the Newspaper Club. Ruby's story arc covers five chapters, not just two, and is after the Security Committee Arc. Mizore doesn't show up until after Ruby's story arc. So, yeah, massive timeline differences. Thought you'd want to know.**

*******Trivia**

**Vampires react badly to water due to its 'purifying' quality. To take a bath, for instance, a Vampire must first add an herb mixture to neutralise it.**

***Bitesize Monster Encyclopedia**

**Mermaid: Contrary to the sweet image projected in popular fairy tales, sailors know that these terrible beauties portend shipwrecks and death.**

**Next Chapter: Enter: The Werewolf and the Onimodoki**

**In the next chapter I'm introducing that second OC I mentioned earlier. I tried to pick a good Monster type, but not OP, and this one's actually a canon Monster.**


	4. Chapter 4

**And we have chapter 4! I'm not completely caught up to where I was before, and I'm genuinely pleased with how this is going. Plus, no flames so far! It's incredible, I honestly didn't think it would ever be possible. I haven't had all that many reviews for this since I started updating it, but the 33 Favourites and 47 Follows are more than enough to keep me going.**

**victoria cullen33: Thank you once again! You're one of only two people who have actually reviewed the rewritten chapters. Thank you very much for your kind words and continued support!**

* * *

Enter: The Werewolf and the Onimodoki

Riku Inoue wasn't a very popular boy. He wasn't talkative, he was a weakling and barely good with anything other than his mind. Being smart was all well and good, but in a school like this it was likely he'd be on somebody's dinner plate before long. You see, he was an Onimodoki*****, and their abilities were limited to being able to change into the forms of other Monsters. You'd think that would be a huge advantage, but you'd be wrong. They could only take on the Monster's appearance, not their powers, so they would still be just as strong as they usually were. All he could really do with it was use it as an intimidation tactic. Still, hopefully the club he'd joined wasn't going to be a combat-heavy zone. What club, you may be asking. The Newspaper Club.

He got to the meeting classroom of the Newspaper Club before any of the other members, including even Ms. Nekonome, and sat down to wait. Riku was a skinny lad, barely having any fat or muscle on him whatsoever despite the fact that he ate plenty. He had light brown hair that hung slightly over his eyes, almost as if to shield them. His eyes themselves were a strange shade of pale yellow and he carried himself in a hunched position to avoid drawing attention to himself.

Eventually four people came into the room. Tsukune Aono, Moka Akashiya, Ambrose Holt and Kurumu Kurono. They were followed in shortly after by Ms. Nekonome, the teacher who ran the Newspaper Club. Oh, and there's one more thing you ought to know about Riku…

"Oh, Riku!" Ms. Nekonome said upon seeing him. "You arrived here early!"

"I-I d-d-didn't want t-to b-be late t-to th-the f-f-first m-meeting," he stuttered. You see, Riku couldn't speak without stuttering, which is why he wasn't talkative. That was another reason the Newspaper Club seemed best for him: He would be writing more than speaking, so it seemed like a good idea.

The others in the room looked a little odd when they heard him speak, so Ms. Nekonome explained the situation to them. "Riku here has a stutter, so he doesn't really like to speak very much."

"That sucks," Tsukune said with sympathy in his tone. "I'm Tsukune Aono. Nice to meet you." He smiled at Riku who simply gave a nod, knowing he probably wouldn't be seeing these guys outside of club activities, so what would be the point in really getting to know them? They would probably be like all those other asshole Monsters around here, anyway.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, anyway," Ambrose said, only to then be hugged by Kurumu. And when I say hugged, I mean nearly suffocated in her breasts.

"It's so much fun being in the same club as you, Ambrose!" she cheered, not realising he was close to passing out from lack of air.

"Uh, Kurumu, I think you might be suffocating him," Tsukune told her. He was wondering why she didn't notice Ambrose flailing his arms in an attempt to get some air in his lungs.

"Okay, everyone!" Ms. Nekonome got their attention, causing Kurumu to release Ambrose. "Thank you all for joining! Now, let's get down to running a newspaper!" The four present just looked around them as if she'd said something incredibly ridiculous.

"Is this it?" Ambrose asked. "Not exactly the Daily Bugle, is it?"

"Sensei… I really don't know anything about this club," Tsukune admitted with a raised hand. "Is it really only supposed to have four members?"

"Oh, but it doesn't!" Ms. Nekonome told them. They heard Riku tapping on a desk so they all looked towards him.

"G-Gin is l-late," he told them. They then heard the door creak open as someone entered the room.

"My apologies," he said as he entered.

"Here he is—our other member!" Ms. Nekonome told them. "It's awfully bad form to be late to the first meeting," she told him as he came in.

"I am Ginei Morioka, your editor," he introduced himself. He had green eyes and ink black hair that he kept in a red headband. He wore no tie, as the other male students in school were required to, and kept the top button of his shirt undone, revealing a wolf pendant around his neck. He had a rather handsome face and was carrying tow bouquets of roses as he entered. "Greetings! And no editor has had a more beautiful staff!" He handed the bouquets to Moka and Kurumu. "You can call me 'Gin.' I only wish the flower existed that could match your beauty." He was looking at Moka for the majority of this, making Tsukune more than a little angry.

_What a line! Who is this guy!? _The human thought as he glared at Gin.

_This guy's a pervert if I ever saw one, _Ambrose thought to himself. _We're going to have to keep an eye on him._

"You can ask Gin any questions you might have," Ms. Nekonome told them. "After all, he's a sophomore."

"You can count on me," Gin said with a thumbs up at the people gathered. Kurumu hugged onto Ambrose once again, but this time it wasn't really to seduce him, it's just that the playboy type that Gin clearly was always made her nervous. Well, that and she took any excuse she could in order to cling onto Ambrose.

"Now, I have to get to a faculty meeting," Ms. Nekonome informed them. "Gin, will you run the meeting for me?"

"As I said..." Gin began, but Tsukune cut him off.

"What!? Sensei, you're leaving already!?" he exclaimed. Gin intimidated him for some reason. At the moment he seemed like a nice enough guy, a bit of a playboy maybe, but still nice enough. There was just this air of intimidation about him that Tsukune couldn't seem to shake off.

"What are you afraid of?" Ms. Nekonome asked him. "Getting along with an upper classman? Think of it as a lesson in coexistence!" She gave them one final wave, then left.

"Now then," Gin began. "I suppose you're all wondering, what is this club? Our objective is simple: The publication of the school newspaper! Our duty is to uncover any and all stories of interest to the school, even if it means putting your lives in danger! Understand—this is no club for slackers! When you walk in here, you give us your soul!"

The other four occupants of the room sat there nervously. Tsukune was still suspicious about his motives. Moka thought he was a… strong leader. Ambrose now thought he was an _insane _pervert. Kurumu just felt nervous about his whole personality so far. And Riku was just glad he wasn't one of those crazy guys who would try to kill you for no reason.

"But the most important thing is..." Gin paused. "...To have fun! Now, would you three kindly put these posters on the back wall?" He gave Tsukune, Ambrose and Riku some posters to put up on the other side of the classroom. All three of them agreed to it, but they all gave him slightly wary looks before moving. There was something not right about this guy, and they could all feel it. Meanwhile, Gin was having the girls put up some posters on the other side of the classroom. Rather high, as a matter of fact.

"Are you sure it's okay to put this up so high?" Moka asked him from her spot, stood on a desk at the front of the room as she and Kurumu tried to get the posters in their proper places.

"Good point," Gin conceded. "A tad higher."

"Huh?" Kurumu asked. "A tad higher than _this?" _

"Good point," Gin agreed again. "Much higher."

"He's so serious, but so flaky," Tsukune whispered to the two he was working with. "What's the deal with this guy?"

"Look at the way he was flirting with the girls earlier," Ambrose said. "You can't pick up anything bad from that?" He turned to Riku. "When you met him yesterday, was he doing anything weird?"

Riku shook his head in the negative.

"Okay, was he doing anything at all?" Ambrose needed the details. If he was right about Gin, then he wanted wither Gin or the girls out of there. If there was one thing Ambrose couldn't stand, it was perverts.

"S-St-Staring at th-the S-Swim Cl-Club l-like e-e-everyone e-else," Riku shrugged.

"Guys," Tsukune got their attention. They looked towards Gin again to see that he was crouched down as the girls put up the posters. Ambrose narrowed his eyes at the action, whereas Tsukune went over to investigate. Riku hadn't known the girls long enough to really care at this point. Like Tsukune and Ambrose, he didn't approve of perverts, but Gin frightened him. Riku wasn't very good with most people anyway, but Gin set him on edge for some reason. It was an effect that Gin seemed to have on all of them.

Tsukune reached where Gin was, crouched down next to him, and saw exactly what he could see. Gin could see directly up Moka and Kurumu's skirts. And now so could Tsukune. Needless to say, he was quite outraged.

"GIN! I can't believe you!" Tsukune shouted, getting in front of Gin to block his view of the two girls. Ambrose's eyes narrowed slightly, realising that his suspicions had just been confirmed by Tsukune.

"Huh?" Gin asked, with what appeared to be an innocent smile on his face.

"Don't play innocent!" Tsukune whisper-yelled at him, not wanting to disturb the girls any more than he already had with his other outburst. "You were looking up their skirts!"

"Preposterous!" Gin denied with a huge smile and a laugh. "What an idea – that I would do something so degrading!"

_He was totally looking! _Tsukune yelled in his mind.

""Is something going on?"" Moka and Kurumu both asked as they climbed down from the desks they'd been standing on.

"Oh, Tsukune only mentioned that he just saw your underwear," Gin said casually, thus transferring all the heat from his actions to Tsukune.

"WHAT!?" Tsukune shouted. "You're the one who saw!" He then noticed the shocked, embarrassed and angry way the girls were looking at him. "I didn't see anything! Well, I mean… I _did _see… but accidentally! He's the one who..." He was cut off as two slapping noises echoes through the room, causing Ambrose and Riku to flinch.

The two girls then ran off, leaving Tsukune with two red hand prints on either side of his face. And Gin was laughing his ass off.

"You're a real dummy, aren't you?" he laughed at Tsukune's expense. "I'm so glad! Meeting you has been a laugh riot!" He continued to laugh as Ambrose approached him.

"Gin," Ambrose addressed him. "I suggest you back off before something bad happens, you filthy perverted swine." Ambrose spoke down to Gin most harshly, causing the playboy in question to get extremely angry. Though he would not show it. He did as he was told and backed off, leaving the room and the three boys in it.

"D-Does th-this h-happen to y-you g-guys a l-lot?" Riku asked. He was quite curious as to how a Newspaper Club could be this eventful.

"We do have a strange habit of making enemies, it seems," Ambrose admitted.

"Can we please make one when I'm not at the centre of it?" Tsukune asked, rubbing his reddened cheeks.

"I'm sorry to say this, Tsukune, but most of the trouble we've been in has revolved around you," Ambrose told him. "There was the whole Kurumu incident, but we got a friend out of that one."

"And you got a girlfriend," Tsukune teased.

"Laugh it up, because the violently crazy ones seem to come at you as if you were a circus attraction," Ambrose reminded him. "The shit will hit the fan in no time."

"…M-Maybe I sh-sh-should j-join a d-different cl-club," Riku said, causing Tsukune and Ambrose to laugh a little and Riku to smirk. They were going to get along just fine, it seemed.

After all, if he was going to be in a club with them, he'd have to get used to speaking to them at some point. Why not immediately?

~Freshman at Yokai~

Moka was in her dorm room, lifting up her skirt to figure out how much Tsukune may have seen. _Did Tsukune really see my…? _She asked herself. _How embarrassing…! What did I wear today?_

"_**What do you think you're doing!?" **_came the voice of Inner Moka, causing Outer Moka to near jump out of her skin.

"Oh! It's just the Rosario!" she sighed upon recognising the voice. She was still getting used to the fact that it could talk to her.

"_**What do you mean 'just'?" **_Inner Moka asked. **_"Whatever. Be on your guard, all right?"_**

"Huh?" Outer Moka asked, confused at what Inner Moka could have meant.

"_**I sense something dangerous about him," **_Inner Moka explained. **_"Smells like he's hiding some real power. Don't turn your back on this Gin guy…"_**

~Freshman at Yokai~

It was the middle of the night. The school grounds lay, abandoned, as the students and teachers were getting their much needed rest after a long day. Outside stood a lone figure, visible to no one, plotting to get what he wanted.

"Such a beautiful moon," he said, his hand taking on a furry, clawed appearance as he looked up at the great glowing ball in the sky. "Nearly a match for your beauty… Moka Akashiya." Gin smiled to himself as he planned to make Moka his.

By any means necessary.

~Freshman at Yokai~

Tsukune followed Moka around the next day, trying to tell her what really happened. It didn't exactly go as he'd planned it to.

"Sorry, but…" Moka finally told him after having avoided him all day. "I don't like perverts!"

"Hey, wait," Tsukune tried to get her to speak to him. "Are you still mad!? I told you, what happened yesterday was an accident!"

"Oh, right," Moka sarcastically said as she continued to walk. "You 'accidentally' turned into a pervert." Although her head was filled with different thoughts. _I believe him… but I have my pride! So I'll give him the silent treatment for a while…_

Neither of them noticed that Gin was watching from a distance, wondering what the deal was with those two. So he decided to ask somebody nearby.

"Ah, ladies!" he said as he noticed two girls nearby. "Grant me a moment of your time." He gave them a charming smile and they were butter in his hands. "May I ask you something?"

"Who's he? He's so cute!" one of them whispered to the other, thinking he couldn't hear them.

"Anything you wanna know!" the other said eagerly.

"Moka spends so much time with Tsukune," he said. "Are they… going out?" He really hoped that the answer was no. He would prefer that things didn't get… _messy. _

"Oh… well, I'm not sure but…" one of the two told him. "…They're a pretty odd couple."

"He's just so average!" her friend added in. "And Moka's so beautiful even the girls sigh over her! Oh, but remember? Somebody saw Moka kissing Tsukune on the neck! So maybe they are going out!" And that was too much for Gin's mind to comprehend.

"N-Neck!?" Gin asked, his face contorted in either pain or confusion or a bit of both. "Kissing on the neck!?" He held his head in his hands like he had a really bad headache. "That's not right! It's not even funny! Tsukune is bad! BAD!"

The girls he'd been talking to trembled and ran away in fear as Gin's mental breakdown continued.

~Freshman at Yokai~

"How do you two like the club?" Ambrose asked. Kurumu spent most of her free time with him, so it was no surprise that she was there. But Ambrose also tracked down Riku to try and have a conversation with him. It would seem that, because of the club, Riku would become a member of their group. So he wanted to get to know him as much as possible.

"It's fun enough," Kurumu told him. "Gin creeps me out a little, but otherwise I enjoy it." Riku gestured with his head as a way of saying 'it's fine.'

"At least I'm not the only one who feels like Gin is capable of great evil," Ambrose said. "I've been getting a weird feeling off the guy since I met him."

"H-He sc-scares m-me," Riku admitted hesitantly, not really wanting to look like a wimp in front of his new club mates.

"Why?" Ambrose asked. He was curious if anything Gin has done could point them in the direction of exactly what was wrong with him. So far all Ambrose could tell was that Gin is a pervert, but other than that he knew nothing. He didn't know why, he just felt strangely wary of Gin, especially when Kurumu was around. He had grown a strange affection for the Succubus over the past month or so, and it was starting to get to him.

Riku shrugged his shoulders. "H-He j-just d-d-does."

"Isn't that Tsukune?" Kurumu asked, looking down the corridor ahead of them. True enough, Tsukune was wondering down the corridor on his own, a depressed aura surrounding him.

"Yep, that would be him," Ambrose said. "Should we go and say hello?" They were about to approach Tsukune when Ambrose saw something that stopped him in his tracks. Gin was approaching Tsukune.

"Tsukune!" Gin greeted him as he approached.

"Oh, Gin," Tsukune greeted back, distaste clear in his voice.

"We're holding our club meeting on the roof today," Gin told him. "Come with me." He began leading Tsukune off somewhere.

"Okay, that's weird," Kurumu observed. "From what I remember, Tsukune didn't really like Gin very much."

"Yeah, and you've got to admit that Tsukune peeping up your skirt is a bit of a stretch," Ambrose said. "Think about it. Is Tsukune _really _the type of guy who'd do that on purpose?"

"I guess not," Kurumu agreed. "So, what? Do we follow them?"

"Sounds like a plan," Ambrose agreed. "You coming, Riku?" He turned to the stuttering boy in question, who thought about it for a moment before nodding. Ah, what the hell? He was curious as the rest of them as to what Gin was hiding.

Gin lead Tsukune through the school, completely oblivious to the three following after them, until they reached a spot at the back of the school. It was a sort of cramped alley area that wasn't kept very clean, and even had a sewer grate next to the building.

"On the roof?" Tsukune asked. "But… isn't this the back of the school? Why are we meeting here?"

Gin laughed light-heartedly. "Not to worry!" he told Tsukune. "The others will be here soon. I owe you an apology for yesterday. I hope Moka wasn't too angry."

"Angry!?" Tsukune asked him in a contempt-filled tone. "She didn't speak a single word to me all day!" _She can be really mean when she's mad, _Tsukune thought. _I've got to find a way to shake this image of being some kind of perv…_

"Ah, at last!" Gin exclaimed as they came to a secluded area with a few boxes sitting around, one of which was conveniently placed under a window. "Here we are, Tsukune."

"…Here!?" Tsukune asked in disbelief.

"You see that little window up there?" Gin pointed to the window with the box under it. "Take a look through it."

"Huh? Why?" Tsukune didn't trust Gin as far as he could throw him. But why would Gin drag him out here if it wasn't serious? He hadn't attacked him, so there was no reason to not do as he said.

"Just look! It's a laugh riot!" Gin told him, humour filling his tone.

"A riot?" Tsukune climbed up onto the box beneath the window and was about to look in when Gin spoke again.

"Oh… and one other thing. Moka is even more beautiful than they say!" That stopped Tsukune in his tracks and he turned to face Gin as he continued speaking. "It was love at first sight for me." Gin noticed Tsukune's disbelieving, slightly annoyed look and smirked. "I'm serious. I'm going to make Moka _mine."_

"What!?" Tsukune was confused. If he was being serious, then why bother telling _him? _"Why dump this on me all of a…?" That was when Tsukune heard the voices. He looked through the window to see numerous girl in various states of undress as they got changed. He was staring into the girls' locker room. "Gin, th-this is…"

"Precisely," he said as he snapped a picture of Tsukune staring through the window. "The girls' locker room. It's not nice to peep, Tsukune." Gin laughed as he held up the digital camera, showing Tsukune the picture he had taken. "And it's not smart to get caught doing it on camera! Won't Moka be upset when she sees this picture?"

"What!?" Tsukune shouted, rage and panic filling him at the same time. "You set me up! Delete that shot!"

"Hey! Did you hear a guy's voice just now?" came a girl's voice from through the window. It didn't stop Tsukune, however, as he tried to take the camera from Gin. Gin simply grabbed Tsukune's hand and held it there, chuckling.

"You're making this so easy," he taunted. "Now don't tell anyone what happened… Unless you want this picture to exchange hands through the whole school! All's fair and love in war, my friend. Until next time!" Gin appeared to disappear in front of Tsukune, shocking him immensely. However, if you looked closely enough, you could see that Gin was in fact moving inhumanly quickly.

It was then that the girls decided to poke their heads out of the window, and the chase was on. Tsukune did his best to outrun the barrage of angry girls running at him, but to no avail. When they caught him they tied him up, making sure the 'peeping tom' didn't escape them. And throughout all this, the only reaction Tsukune cared about was the one that Moka might have. She'd already said she didn't like perverts, so if this got out it could seriously jeopardise the friendship they'd built. Not to mention how bloodied and bashed he was from the girls chasing him. Moka finding out would just add insult to injury at this point.

"Tsukune…" came her voice. Tsukune's situation became all the more hopeless. "Is it really true…?"

"NO!" Tsukune denied fervently. "It's a misunderstanding! I had no intention of peeping, but…" _Shit, not again! _Tsukune panicked in his mind. _I need to find some way out of this!_

"Tsukune… please tell me…" Moka said, tears brimming in her eyes at the thought of the answer he might give. "You weren't peeping through that window. Were you…?"

"Um… well…" Tsukune began. He wasn't going to lie and say he was never up there, but he also needed a way to explain it without sounding like it was just a flimsy excuse. But that small moment of hesitation was all it took. Moka ran away from him as fast as her legs could carry her. "But I didn't mean to! You've got to believe me! …Believe me…" He hung his head in defeat. That was it. Moka wouldn't talk to him again.

The three who had followed him without his knowledge were still watching from a distance.

"Should we help him?" Kurumu asked. "We could have helped through that entire thing, but we didn't. Any particular reason for that?"

"Do _you_ want to take on over a dozen extremely angry Monster girls?" Ambrose asked her. "Tsukune's my friend, but I think I'll save my strength for something that would otherwise kill him. For now all we can do is wait for the heat to die down, then spring him. Any objections?" Kurumu and Riku both shook their heads. "Good, so it looks like we'll be waiting a while."

And they were really waiting a _while!_

~Freshman at Yokai~

It was night time again, the full moon lighting up the night sky. And Moka Akashiya stood on the roof of Yokai Academy, thinking about the events of the last two days. It would appear that Tsukune Aono, her friend and secret (she thinks) crush, was a huge pervert.

"Ah, here you are, Moka," said a familiar male voice. Moka turned her head and noticed Gin looking at her from the doorway to the roof. "A lovely night. And such a beautiful full moon, yes? I heard about Tsukune, the fool. I hear they still have him tied up. Don't tell me you're shedding tears for him?" She was. The tears were still spilling out of her eyes, ever since she'd found Tsukune all tied up by that large group of girls. She didn't want to believe Tsukune was peeping, but all the evidence was there. Gin smirked to himself. He still had one final card to play.

"This is being passed all around the school," he told her as he handed her a printed copy of the photograph he'd taken of Tsukune earlier. Moka froze in shock upon seeing it. "I suppose he'll call it an 'accident.'" He put his arm around Moka's shoulder in what appeared to be a comforting manner. "There's no need to tell him you've seen the picture. It's too sad. Better just to forget all about him… don't you think?" He squeezed her shoulder. "Tonight… I will comfort you." Moka looked up at him nervously as he smiled down at her.

~Freshman at Yokai~

Tsukune smashed his tied up body against the door for what seemed like the hundredth time. He was trying desperately to break out of the locked room those girls had left him in. He _had _to get out of there. He _had _to keep Gin away from Moka. He _had _to clear his name. There were so many things he just _had _to do that it almost seemed impossible to do it all.

_He's a beast, _the tied up human thought. _He acts all smooth… but he's a beast! If I don't do something Moka will be… _A knock sounded at the window. Then another knock.

"Cosy in there?" asked the voice of Ambrose Holt. Tsukune's face broke out in a smile as he saw Ambrose, Kurumu and Riku's faces through the window. "We thought you could use a hand."

~Freshman at Yokai~

"Let me go!" Moka yelled as she pushed Gin off of her. He had moved to hug her, and ended up grabbing onto some rather… inappropriate areas of her body. "Gin, what do you think you're doing?"

"What am I doing?" Gin asked, trying to act innocent. "Holding you gently in my arms."

"You were not!" Moka argued. "You were feeling me up!"

"Well… it is a full moon, isn't it?" Gin asked, the smile on his face changing into more of a smirk. "And under the full moon, my power surges, and so do my… appetites. So don't fight me. That will only make me mad… and I'll lose control." He moved in to kiss her, only for her to rather violently push him away.

"STOP!" she screamed at him as he hit the floor. She looked at the photograph he'd given her. "Tsukune… said he didn't _mean _to look… And I believe him! I _want _to believe _him… _Not some pictures!"

Gin looked at her from his spot on the floor, chuckling with a large grin on his face. "Such a generous girl… It only makes me want you more." His teeth sharpened. "And… I did warn you… Under the full moon… My appetites grow strong." His skin grew grey fur and his fingernails became claws. "And when I get like this… I simply can't control myself!"

"G-Gin…" Moka stuttered as she stumbled backwards, terrified by what she saw in front of her.

"Now, Moka Akashiya…" Gin's voice came out distorted and demonic. "YOU ARE _MINE!" _He reached out a clawed hand to grab onto her when a new voice stopped him in his tracks. A voice that shocked him to his core.

"STOP!" shouted Tsukune as he saw what was happening.

"…You!?" Gin asked in confusion. "How can it be…?"

"How doesn't matter," Ambrose said as Kurumu dropped him, Tsukune and Riku onto the roof. She was in her true form, huffing and puffing from carrying them all up. "The point is that he's out and he's here."

"You're… supposed to be tied up!" Gin exclaimed in shock at the situation.

"These three let me out," Tsukune told him.

"We saw everything," Kurumu added on. "We were hiding nearby. When Gin sent Tsukune to that window… And tricked him into looking!" Moka looked at Gin in even higher levels of shock and disgust as Gin began growling like a wild animal.

"My scheme… ruined…" he muttered. "Curse you!" He was shouting at the top of his lungs in no time, and everyone saw his true form of an anthropomorphic wolf creature***. **"GET AWAY FROM ME!" He began howling at the moon in the sky as his nature as a Werewolf was revealed.

_I was right! _Tsukune realised a somewhat funny side to the situation. _He really is a beast!_ "I've got to help Moka…" he realised as he began to make his way forwards. He was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"I got you covered," Ambrose told him. "When he starts beating on me, run to Moka. As quickly as you can, please, I'd rather not die tonight." He moved to step in front of the Werewolf, but was stopped by a shout from Kurumu.

"Ambrose, wait!" she cried. "It's too dangerous! Werewolves are too powerful – as strong as Vampires! You don't stand a chance!"

"Thank you for the information, Kurumu," Ambrose said. "As if I wasn't already hesitant to do this." His teeth sharpened into fangs and his hands grew claws on them. "Just have some faith in me, would you?" A pair of sharpened antlers sprouted from his head and his bone structure reworked itself. By the end of it he had the head of a deer with sharp teeth and hellish yellow eyes. His hands were massive and clawed, claws that could rip through flesh and bone. His skin was pulled tightly over the skin of his torso so that the bones were clearly visible through the flesh. All-in-all, Ambrose was correct. His true form was one ugly fucker.

"Here, doggy doggy," he taunted the Werewolf as he stepped between Gin and Tsukune. "Doggy want a bone? You can see mine through the skin. Come and get it, you little bitch!" He hoped and prayed that Tsukune would be able to get Moka's Rosario off before Gin killed him. Then again… He wasn't sure if death would be such a bad thing at this point. He'd lost his entire family and couldn't do a damn thing. At least if he died here he could say he went out helping someone. Then Gin hit him and the pain started. Slashing pains. Bashing pains. Gin kicked the ever-loving shit out of him as he waited for Inner Moka to come along and clip this dog's balls.

While Ambrose was being beaten up, Tsukune ran towards Moka and stopped beside her. "Sorry to cut the reunion short, Moka, but I don't think Ambrose can last very long," he explained.

"Do it," she told him. And he did it. He pulled the Rosario off of her neck and watched as the familiar glow surrounded her form, revealing Inner Moka.

_Holy shit… _Riku thought as he watched the scene unfold. _Gin's a Werewolf… Moka's a Vampire… Just what did I get myself into?_

"R-Red eyes…?" Gin asked in slight fear. "Can she… be a…?" He took a good, long look at Inner Moka. "Vampire…" He looked up and down her true form and grinned perversely. "So this is Moka's true form…" He chuckled with a lecherous smile on his face. His chuckle then evolved into a full-blown laugh. "Moka, you're perfect! Even your Monster form is beautiful! So you're a Vampire!? That only makes me want you more!"

_It doesn't matter what shape he's in – he's still the same beast on the inside! _Tsukune yelled in his head. Kurumu and Riku were tending to a severely wounded Ambrose, who was covered in claw marks and bruises. Kurumu felt tears sting her eyes upon seeing the state he was in.

"In your dreams, wolf!" Inner Moka shouted at Gin as she moved to hit him. He sneered at her for a moment and before they knew it he was gone.

"Where are you looking? I'm over here!" Gin yelled from far behind her. "Vampires may be tops in power… but we Werewolves have the speed! And the brighter the moon—the faster we are! A Werewolf under a full moon… is _unbeatable!" _He zoomed off in another burst of speed and Inner Moka found herself in a position she wasn't used to. She was struggling.

_I can't fight him if I can't see him! _She shouted in her head as she tried to pinpoint Gin's location.

"Accept it!" Gin advised her. "As long as the moon's in the sky, you're helpless!" He finally appeared just behind her and went in for a strike… which she caught. "She stopped me…!? But how can that be…?" Gin looked at her in shock before looking to the sky, noting the absence of any moon. "The moon! It's hidden by the clouds!" Inner Moka gripped his hand hard, causing him no small amount of pain. "Who needs the moon?" Gin tried to sound undeterred by the recent development. "My power runs deep! SUBMIT TO ME, MOKA!"

Then Moka kicked him in the face, sending his blood everywhere, and knocking him clean out.

"If you want to have a chance with me, Dog Breath," Inner Moka told him coldly. "You'll have to spend some time at the gym first. Until then… know your place."

~Freshman at Yokai~

"Extra! Extra!" the members of the Newspaper Club, minus Riku, called out to the passing students as they handed them newspapers. "Extra! Read all about it!" All the girls around campus were reading the newspaper with shocked faces, incredibly disturbed that anyone could be as big of a pervert as Gin was. And as such, Gin was being chased around the school by a mob of incredibly pissed off girls.

"Who'd have guessed that something like this would've become our first story?" Tsukune asked as he handed out papers with his friends. "Right, Moka?" He looked up at the Vampire in question as she pinned something on the bulletin board, getting another full view up her skirt.

"Don't you look up here!" she yelled at him as she made to kick him in the face. He was saved any further pain when Ambrose quickly pulled him out of the way of Moka's foot.

"That eager to look up Moka's skirt, eh?" Ambrose asked him with a grin. He looked over at Kurumu to see her looking rather down compared to her usual self. "Hey, are you all right?"

"…Why did you do that?" Kurumu asked him. "You could've gotten yourself killed!"

"Would you prefer it if Tsukune got killed?" Ambrose asked. "I did what I did because it may have saved Tsukune's life. It's been a while since anyone's given a damn about me, so I guess I just thought I had the least to lose out of all of us." **Slap! **Ambrose rubbed his cheek after Kurumu smacked him in the face.

"How about your life!?" she questioned. "It may not be important to you, but it's important to the rest of us! It's important to me…" She was rather surprised that, after a month of Ambrose being unreceptive to her advances, he was hugging her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry. It's just… I'm not used to the idea of people caring."

"Well _get _used to it," Kurumu told him. "It doesn't matter what everyone else thinks, _I _care. Just don't do anything this stupid again."

"I won't make it a habit, trust me," Ambrose assured her. It was a strange concept, somebody caring about him. To his knowledge, everyone who'd ever given a shit about him had died a few months before he came to this school. The idea that, for the first time in a while, someone actually cared about him. It gave him a funny, warm feeling in his stomach when he heard Kurumu's words. _What is this? _He asked himself. _This feeling… Am I…? Am I falling for Kurumu…?_

Riku watched this entire scene with a small smile on his face. He didn't speak much, the stutter was too embarrassing, but he felt like he could around these people. They weren't mean like a lot of the other Monsters in school and they seemed like they were truly close friends. The kind of friends he'd love to have. From what they'd said, trouble followed them everywhere, but that was okay. It would be worth it to have friends like these.

"I-I l-l-like y-you g-guys," Riku told them. Riku had decided that he had definitely chosen the right club.

And so began the many adventures of the Newspaper Club.

* * *

**And that's the chapter! I hope you liked Riku, he'll get more development later, especially when Mizore turns up. Someone asked for an underdog character, so I put one in. I kept Ambrose and Kurumu's little moment at the end from the previous version because I liked it, I found it quite heartwarming. I know it might seem a bit dickish of Ambrose to let Tsukune get beaten up by those girls, but Kurumu does the exact same thing in canon! She's following him, sees the entire thing and still does nothing until it's over. It may seem like a dick move to some people, but to me it makes logical sense. Self preservation.**

**I actually took the appearance for the Wendigo from a picture I found on Google which I thought looked awesome! You'll know it when you see it, believe me.**

*******Bitesize Monster Encyclopedia**

**Onimodoki: A distant cousin to the Doppelganger. They can take on the forms of other Monsters, but unlike their cousin Monster, cannot replicate said Monster's powers.**

**Werewolf: Known since the 16th Century, this being shifts from human to wild form with the full moon. Its power and viciousness wax and wane with the brightness of its celestial mistress.**

**Next Chapter: Enter: The Genius Witch**


	5. Chapter 5

**Welcome to chapter 5, where we will be getting introduced to everyone's favourite underage witch! Let me tell you, I've been looking forward to this one for a while.**

**Chapter 3 Guest: Yeah, even I'll admit the logic's broken. But I sort of had to do it like that if I was going to get the Vampire's weakness to water introduced at the right time.**

**Chapter 4 Guest: Well, I may not have been on the receiving end of that particular beating, but I've been on the receiving end of a few. So I can at least sympathise with Tsukune's pain at the time.**

**Chapter 1 Guest: Thank you, I try not to fall into the trap but I'm not entirely sure how long I'll succeed for. Oh well, I still won't call it a failure if that happens to me. I'll have just discovered a way that doesn't work.**

**With that out of the way, let's begin.**

* * *

Enter: The Genius Witch

Midterms: The bane of every teenager's existence. At Yokai Academy young Monsters learned how to adapt in order to live in human society, but unfortunately that meant learning all the boring things a teenager would have to learn in a human high school. It also didn't help that after a test the results were posted on the bulletin board for all to see. Now, that was fine if you were in first place, like this Yukari Sendo on the top of the list, but if you didn't do too well, it can be rather humiliating. Take Tsukune Aono and Ambrose Holt for example, they ranked 128 and 130 respectively. You see, this is where Ambrose discovered exactly how out of date his mother's material at home was. And Tsukune was having trouble studying with all the excitement going on.

"Riku, how the hell did you do so well?" Tsukune asked their stuttering friend. Riku had ranked 15th. He was a smart guy, but you wouldn't have known it from meeting him, since he didn't exactly talk much.

"I-I st-studied," Riku told him. His brain was pretty much all he had going for him, so he used it as much as he could.

"So did I," Ambrose threw in. "But I had to relearn all the stuff my mum got wrong. Apparently she got all her information from the Middle Ages, and do you have any idea how hard it is to cram all that shit in?" He was then taken by surprise, as Kurumu sneaked up on him and jumped in front of him. She then did her usual thing and hugged him, causing his face to vanish in the two mounds that were her breasts.

"Hey, Ambrose!" the blue-haired Succubus greeted him. "So, how did you do in the midterms?" She released him from the hug. He breathed deeply, trying to recover the air he'd lost during Kurumu's display of affection.

"Well, let's put it this way. I won't be winning any awards any time soon," he told her. "How about you?" She let out a huff.

"Pretty badly," she admitted. "But, hey! Next time we can study together!" Of course, Kurumu being Kurumu, she would find some way to spend time with him even through this situation. Ambrose was well aware that he'd been developing feelings for her ever since she scolded him for putting his life in danger, but he wasn't very good at expressing himself. So he planned on spending time with her, both in the club and outside it, and seeing if his feelings ever get strong enough to warrant action from him. Otherwise, he really didn't know what else to do, he was inexperienced with social situations outside of family, and _very _inexperienced at dealing with these kinds of feelings. He was quite nervous.

"All right," he agreed with her. "The next time we have an exam coming, we'll study for it together." He felt her hug on his back tighten, almost painfully. "Kurumu, could you please let go? You're starting to squeeze the air out of me." She did as she was asked, not without slight disappointment, and settled for clinging to his arm instead. As was their routine at this point. "Thank you."

Number 13 on the ranking board was the one that had the most attention directed towards it. Because at number 13 was the name Moka Akashiya. Cue: Boys talking about how smart and beautiful she is. Same old, same old. Said Vampire girl was actually looking at the scoreboard a little bit away from the group at the moment and hadn't noticed them yet.

"Moka!" Tsukune called her over. She looked over at the group, smiled at them and came over to Tsukune's side, smiling even wider when she arrived. "You really are amazing! You're my role model!" Tsukune showered her with praise, causing her to blush modestly, as if it wasn't that impressive.

"Oh, please!" she said as she raised a hand to her cheek, trying to cover her blush. To Tsukune, she seemed so perfect – out of reach. He could sort of see why she didn't have friends in middle school. It couldn't have been anything bad, she was too good for that. She was too good for anything, really. That must have been why they didn't make friends with her. They just always saw her as too good to be hanging out with them. Too nice, pretty and smart to be within their reach. It was how Tsukune felt quite a lot of the time, in fact.

"W-Will you help me study next time?" Tsukune asked her nervously. He knew that if she helped him, he would get better. She ranked _13 _for crying out loud! It was impressive by the standards of any high school, let alone a Monster one! And it would mean he could spend more time with her, which was always a bonus as far as he was concerned.

"Sure!" she accepted with enthusiasm. "If you promise to let me drink you blood!" Ambrose, Kurumu and Riku smiled at Moka and Tsukune as the two looked each other in the eyes, as if in some kind of trance, before realising they were being stared at. The small group of friends then began to walk off, not noticing that someone was staring at Tsukune and Moka the entire time. At Tsukune in jealousy, and at Moka in longing.

The one staring at them was a young girl by the name of Yukari Sendo, who ranked first on the midterm results. She was a short girl, which was natural considering her age at 11 years old and wore a large, stereotypical pointed witch's hat and a black cape. Her hair was short and black as her cape and her eyes were a bright purple. She sighed as she watched one of the smartest and most beautiful students in the year, Moka, walk away while giving Tsukune all of her attention.

"Hello, Yukari," greeted the voice of a male student. "Top of the class again, eh? And only eleven years old. Aren't you glad they let you skip all those grades?" It was a cruel, superior-looking student without the suit jacket over his dress shirt. He had light hair and a wrinkled face that made him look far older than he actually was. He was backed by two dark-haired students who looked just as cruel as he did. "We're sure glad, aren't we?" he asked his two henchmen. "Life would be so boring without our little genius." His smirk portrayed the sarcasm in what he was saying.

"C-Class President…" Yukari gulped nervously. She was shaking and sweating profusely as she looked at the three in front of her.

"It's just too bad you're not smart enough…" he said as his smirk turned into an irritated scowl. "…To learn the school dress code!" He roughly put his hand on Yukari's forehead and pushed her back. "Or do you think you're special!?"

"Pl-Please, no!" Yukari pleaded as she backed away from the three of them. The students who had noticed the commotion weren't exactly helping, either.

"What's up?" one who'd just joined asked.

"It's that genius kid," one of the others told him like nothing important was happening. "The Prez is working her over again."

"What does the expect, dressing like that?" a third asked. It was clear he rather disliked her, himself.

"You make me embarrassed to be president of this class," the Class President told Yukari. His glare made his eyes resemble a lizard's somewhat. "In fact, just being in the same class as a dirty little Witch*** **makes me wanna puke." He put his face really close to hers in an attempt to intimidate her more, and it appeared to be working. But then Yukari's eyes narrowed and she produced a wand with a star contained inside a love heart at the tip, waved it quickly, and a rock flew form nowhere into the back of the Class President's head, causing him to yell out in pain. Yukari then burst out laughing, a large smile adorning her face.

"Ha ha ha! Serves you right!" she laughed at the Class President, only to shrink back again in fear when he began to reach for her.

"You're gonna pay for that, you little—" he growled, only to be interrupted by someone else who came upon the scene.

"Stop!" Moka yelled at them as she held out her arms and got between them and Yukari. She looked uncharacteristically angry as well. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but one thing I can't stand is violence against _girls." _Her friends were off to the side, realising why she'd run out of their little cluster and watching in slight awe as she stood up for the small girl. They'd never seen her make a move this bold before, even to help someone. They were pleasantly surprised by it, as a matter of fact. And Yukari gasped in surprise at the defence, her heartbeat increasing as the blush returned to her face. The surprise was also shared amongst the onlookers. Was Moka really about to go up against the _Class President!?_

_There's too many people around, _the Class President thought in sheer frustration. He turned to leave, but turned his head back at the last minute. "I made my point, didn't I, Yukari?" he asked the Witch girl. He then turned around again. "Let's go." His henchmen followed him as he walked off, very displeased by the events that just unfolded.

"You saved me! You saved me!" Yukari cheered as she stood in front of Moka, her blush even larger than before and her smile wider. "My gratitude is profound beyond measure!"

"Don't mention it!" Moka brushed off the young girl's thanks. "I hate when people get picked on just 'cause they're different!" It reminded her too much of her time in that human middle school.

_Beyond measure? _Tsukune asked in his mind. _11 years old… Where the hell did she start talking like that?_

"You're so smart, Yukari!" Moka praised her. "And your outfit is beautiful!" She felt the girl needed a few compliments to make her feel better. It wasn't like she was lying, anyway, she was a rather intelligent girl for her age. And her costume was definitely something to be admired, she must have put some real effort into it.

"Y-You really…?" Yukari asked, her happiness overloading her mind. "No no no no! Beautiful!? Not me, no no! Y-Y-You're the b-beautiful one, M-Moka!" She looked down a little, her blush somehow deepening even _further. _"In f-f-fact, I… I…" She lost all control of herself and threw her arms around Moka in a massive hug. "I love you!" And that was how all of Moka's friends came to choke on the air.

"YOU WHAT!?" Tsukune wound up yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Well… this is… _weird," _Ambrose said. Even he didn't have a sarcastic remark prepared for this one.

"I would say this is sweet, but…" Kurumu struggled to finish her sentence.

Riku simply facepalmed.

"From the first moment I saw you, I haven't been able to banish you from my thoughts," Yukari told Moka, her enthusiasm never once fading. "And now… May I spend time in your presence? Am I… worthy?" She looked at Moka with her hands held as if she was praying, a nervous expression on her face.

"Uh…" Moka struggled to take in Yukari's childish, yet oddly mature, behaviour. "We could be friends…" That was when Yukari wrapped Moka in an even tighter hug than before.

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" Yukari yelled out in joy as she held Moka in what would be a death grip to any other 11-year old.

"Uh, sure…" Moka said, taken aback at the massive affections of such a small girl. Tsukune, Ambrose, Kurumu and Riku all sweatdropped at the scene in front of them. This was awkward _and_ embarrassing to watch. It also didn't help that Yukari was taking the whole thing so seriously. Could this situation get any stranger? Yes it could. And it did, when Yukari started hugging Moka from behind… and started groping her breasts. And now the group were no longer sweatdropping. They were stood, staring, with their mouths agape. Moka gasped from shock as the young Witch squeezed her chest in her tiny hands.

"They're even bigger than they look!" Yukari exclaimed. Her smile had gone from 'very happy' to 'absolutely ecstatic,' and it didn't look like she was going to calm down any time soon. "And so soft! Veritable pillows!" The entire student populace was stopping to stare at the spectacle that was the young girl groping the attractive pink-haired Vampire.

"Yukari… wait…" Moka pleaded with her admirer. Her current situation was _extremely _uncomfortable, which shouldn't have come as a surprise, considering…

"What's this all about!?" Tsukune finally yelled. The strangeness, discomfort and confusion of the situation finally making him snap.

"Well, I'm not an expert, but it looks like a young girl feeling up an older one," Ambrose told him, regaining his sense of humour after the shock of the situation wore off. And even then it was rather limited at the moment.

"Don't interrupt us!" Yukari snapped at them while still attached to Moka. "Surely you realise that I see right through you." Yukari got right up in their faces with a look of superiority in her eyes. "How can you two even exist in the same reality as Moka? Let alone pretend to know her?"

"Well, mostly because this is the only reality that I'm aware of," Ambrose replied. "And why are you involving _me _in this? Tsukune spends the most time with her."

"You still soil her with your presence!" she told him harshly. "You're just as bad as him! Tsukune Aono and Ambrose Holt. Grades: Average. Athletic abilities: Tsukune average, Ambrose slightly above other students. Special talents: Ha! Two walking expositions of mediocrity! And because Moka is the sun in my firmament… I cannot allow her radiance to be shrouded by such as you. I am forced to resort to… The Witch's Wand!" She waved her heart-shaped wand in front of her and then… well, shit went down would be the best way to put it. "It will ensure that my beloved is troubled by you nevermore!" Out of the janitor's closet down the hall came a lot of brooms, directly towards Tsukune and Ambrose. The two comically looked at each other for a moment before doing the sensible thing and running the fuck away. It didn't go too well. The brooms caught up with them very quickly and started beating the hell out of them. When it was finished Tsukune and Ambrose were bruised and battered on the floor, groaning. Kurumu was by Ambrose's side in an instant, Moka looked at Tsukune with worry but Yukari refused to leave her side, and Riku simply backed away from the small Witch. He didn't need to go through that. "It's magic! I love manipulating brooms! So traditional! I'm a Witch, you see! And my magic will keep Moka safe from every yucky boy on Earth!" And… one of the brooms hit Riku in the face. Third man down. The three boys, plus Kurumu, did the only sensible thing they could: They ran away.

None of them noticed the Class President looking at Yukari from around a corner, pure hatred filling his eyes.

~Freshman at Yokai~

"I still say I snapped one," Ambrose grumbled as Kurumu put plasters on the small cuts he'd suffered at the hands of the floating booms. This entire situation had wounded his pride. _How did an 11-year old girl get the jump on me? _He asked himself. "I don't suppose a quip about how we got 'swept up' would be appropriate?"

"Shut up, Ambrose," Tsukune told him. He was frustrated with the whole thing. Not only was he now cut off from Moka, but he had been battered for doing literally nothing wrong. What the hell was up with that!? "Who the hell was that little girl, anyway? I can't even _talk _to Moka any more. I don't think I'll even be able to at the Newspaper Club."

"Y-Yukari S-S-Sendo," Riku spoke up as he placed the final plaster of Tsukune's cheek. Riku only needed one because he was only hit once at the end, which was pretty much just to prove a point anyway. "Sh-She's in m-my cl-class."

"I've heard about her," Kurumu said. "Mentally a genius, emotionally still a little girl. None of her classmates like her!" Her cheerful demeanour made that sound a little harsh, but that was just how she acted all the time. It was one of the many things that made her pleasant to be around.

"Am I surprised?" Tsukune asked rhetorically. Yukari had managed to piss him off, which is something that never seemed to happen, so at the moment he held a remarkable amount of bitterness where the girl was involved. Said girl was currently snickering to herself as she sat just below the window outside of the nurse's office. Yukari was up to something rather mischievous.

"It seems Tsukune needs some extra persuasion!" she said to herself. She had a look on her face that would have told anyone she was about to cause trouble. "From a Voodoo Doll!" Putting someone's hair in a Voodoo Doll grants the Voodoo Artist power over that person. Yukari had managed to get some of Tsukune's hair when she'd beaten him up with the brooms earlier. She put some of it into the straw that made up the Voodoo Doll, twisted its arm, and made it hit itself in the face. In the nurse's office, Tsukune suddenly punched himself in the nose, causing it to bleed heavily. Yukari laughed to herself as she heard the people within start panicking.

"Tsukune, I know this situation is frustrating," Ambrose said. "But there's no need to punch yourself to deal with the pain. I know the urge must be pretty high, but there are other ways of dealing with this!" Ambrose just assumed it was like he'd seen in TV shows; when something frustrating happened people often smacked their heads off of a wall or something similar as a way of coping. His lack of knowledge on what was happening was rather humorous to the young Witch causing it all.

"What am I doing!?" Tsukune yelled. The loudness of Tsukune's voice attracted the attention of Moka, who happened to be looking for him, anyway. She went towards the nurse's office, wondering what all the commotion was about. She entered and was confused by the spectacle before her. Tsukune was attempting to hit himself while Ambrose restrained his hands from doing so. It appeared that Tsukune had succeeded in hitting himself once already, since their were a few thin trails of blood running from his nose.

"What's going on?" Moka asked in confusion. This was certainly a strange scene to behold. It only got stranger when Tsukune seemed to stop struggling, Ambrose letting go of his hands since it appeared to be over. Then, out of nowhere, Tsukune lunged towards Kurumu and groped her breasts in his hands. Kurumu let out a squeak of surprise at this action, while a flash on anger actually appeared in Ambrose's eyes for a second. Ambrose got between the two and kept Tsukune from getting near Kurumu. Oddly enough, his hands were still grasping as if they had a hold of something.

"Okay, Tsukune, what the hell are you doing!?" Ambrose asked. That was the loudest they'd ever heard Ambrose say anything, and it would have been a surprise to them if they weren't wondering what the hell was going on.

"I can't stop myself!" Tsukune panicked. That was when they heard rather high-pitched laughter coming from near the window. They looked over and saw the top of a pointed hat jutting out from beneath the window. "YUKARI!" Tsukune shouted at the top of his lungs when he realised who that hat belonged to. The young Witch immediately zipped inside and hid behind Moka, just _knowing _that she'd keep her safe from the wrath of any of the angry students before her. "Do something about her! I can't take it any more!"

"Tsukune's right," Ambrose agreed with him. "This is getting ridiculous. First, she beats us up with broomsticks. Then, she makes Tsukune punch himself in the face. And now she makes Tsukune grope my girlfriend! This is getting out… of… hand…" It took him a while to process his own words. He had just openly acknowledged that Kurumu was his girlfriend! That was quite a weird moment for him, but Kurumu was ecstatic. Though she said nothing. This wasn't the time or place to be talking about it. So the Succubus settled for hugging onto his arm affectionately.

Moka looked down at the girl hiding behind her. Yukari had a large, mocking smile on her face as she looked at Tsukune, who was seething with anger. "Oh… Yukari…" Moka tried to find a gentle way to tell Yukari to stop what she was doing to Tsukune.

"Moka, quite _enabling _her!" Tsukune yelled. "You're not doing her any favours by not telling her she's a pain!"

"I'm going to have to agree," Ambrose said. "Kids don't learn until you tell them what's what. I had to do it with my little cousins when they misbehaved back home…" He trailed off at the end when his voice took on a much sadder tone. Though no one really noticed since Riku started speaking shortly after.

"A-A-Agreed," he stuttered out. Even he knew when a child needed to be scolded. This was very much one of those situations.

"Y-You're right…" Moka hesitantly agreed with them. "But…" She didn't enjoy being harsh on kids, especially after this one had been treated earlier.

_A pain…? _Yukari asked herself, a nervous and slightly hurt look on her face from the fact that Moka seemed to be agreeing with them. _Surely not to Moka…? _That thought was rather scary to her. The thought that after Moka had stood up for her, she would go back to having no one again. She wouldn't admit it, but it was a very terrifying thought.

"Yukari… if you keep acting like this, you'll never make any friends," Tsukune reasoned with her. "You'll end up all alone!" He really hoped that this talked some sense into her. The thought of being alone forever would be enough to scare most people out of doing something like this, he just had to hope that it worked on her. It would appear to be his lucky day, since Yukari looked down in what appeared to be sadness.

"I… I don't care," she said in a low tone. "After all, I'm a genius! Everyone else is too stupid to be my friend!" Tsukune, Ambrose, Kurumu and Riku all looked quite offended by that remark since she was basically calling all of them stupid. She got a look of sympathy from Moka, then looked up, a sad smile on her face. "Besides… I… I've always… Been alone… anyway…" That got more of a reaction from everyone. All of the people in the room looked at her in sympathy, but none more so than Moka.

"Yukari…" Tsukune began to say in an apologetic tone. But he never got to finish. Yukari waved her want through the air and a brass pan fell from seemingly nowhere and landed directly on Tsukune's head, causing even more blood loss for the poor human who cried out in pain.

"Oh, you devious little shit," Ambrose said. That's right. She was even pissing him off now. As far as he was concerned, this had gone on long enough. Someone had to tell this girl that no good could come from what she was doing. Someone she listened to would have to tell her. Unfortunately, the only person who fell into that category was Moka, and she hadn't exactly been effective at getting Yukari to stop so far. Then a pan fell on Ambrose's head.

Yukari was laughing maniacally. "You fell for it!" she laughed at Tsukune, then she faced Ambrose and said: "You shouldn't swear at children!" She then ran away before anything could be done against her by her two victims. Kurumu tended to Ambrose's head wound, while Moka went to talk to Tsukune.

"You… you…" Tsukune said through gritted teeth. She was _really _pissing him off now.

"Tsukune!" Moka yelled. "How could you? Yelling at a little girl!" She was too kind-hearted to know why someone would shout at anyone of Yukari's age, regardless of what they'd done.

"How?" Tsukune asked, bitterness lacing his voice. "Easy! She's a brat! Just keep her away from me, Moka!"

~Freshman at Yokai~

Yukari raced through the hallways of Yokai Academy after she'd used her magic to hurt those two idiots. Ambrose shouldn't have gotten involved. He would have been all right if he hadn't stuck up for Tsukune, but he only got himself into more trouble. As far as she was concerned, they were stupid so they deserved what they got. It wasn't like any of the others at this school treated her any differently, anyway. She remembered all the comments she'd heard when the year had begun.

"_I heard she's only eleven years old! They're making us go to class with a baby! A baby dressed as a Witch, yet!"_

"_Witches aren't even real Monsters! They're hardly better than humans!"_

Now she'd just depressed herself. She had reminded herself that she hadn't really lied to them earlier. She _had _always been alone. No Monster had any kind of respect for a Witch. And why should they? The only thing that sets them apart from humans is their magic, so why should any Monster even acknowledge them? Yukari was so caught up in running that she didn't notice the person she bumped into until she'd bumped into them. It was strange, considering she was now out in the forest of dead trees, but the idiot shouldn't have been in her way!

"Are you blind, oaf?" she asked angrily as she rubbed her head. "Watch where you're going!" That was when she looked up. That was when she noticed who she had bumped into. And all anger faded away and was replaced by fear. Before her stood the Class President and his two lackeys, plus a third that hadn't been there last time. They were grinning down at her like Christmas had come early. And it wasn't a look she liked.

"You're the one who should look where you're going," the Class President told her, his hands stuffed in his pockets cockily. His eyes had become lizard-like again. "But you like provoking me… don't you?" Yukari gulped in fear as she shook her head from side-to-side, causing him to laugh at her. "You enjoyed embarrassing me in front of the entire school, didn't you? I've been waiting to see you ever since. I'll have to teach you to be more respectful." A long lizard tongue came out of his mouth and flickered in the air as his skin began to grow scales…

~Freshman at Yokai~

"I don't understand you!" Tsukune was still yelling at Moka. "How can you stick up for her!? Do you enjoy watching me suffer!?" In his mind, there was nothing that justified Moka's defence of Yukari. The little… _Witch _had been causing him nothing but pain all day, yet Moka still took her side. Why!?

"That's not it!" Moka denied. "You should have more compassion, that's all! Can't you see she's hurting!?" She could see it in the young girl's eyes. All the pain that she tried to cover. It was a lot easier to see than she probably thought it was, it's just that not a lot of people bothered. That's why Moka was now running off in the direction Yukari had gone, attempting to catch up to her and be her friend. And, if possible, get her to be a little nicer.

"But… Moka…" Tsukune tried to get her to stop, but to no avail. He simply sighed and looked down.

"I don't know all that much about Witches," Ambrose said now what the debate was over. "But I'm not quite sure I like this one." He had never, in all of his life, met a child quite as intolerable as Yukari was. Maybe there was another side to her, he didn't really know, but she wasn't exactly doing her best to show it off.

"I'll say one thing for Yukari… she's a real _Witch_," Kurumu commented. "You can see why everyone hates them."

"Whoa whoa whoa, back up a sec," Ambrose said with a raised hand.

"Everyone hates Witches?" Tsukune asked.

"You guys don't know?" Kurumu asked them in confusion.

"I just said I don't know much about Witches," Ambrose pointed out. "So no, I don't. Continue."

"In the old days they were called 'Beings of the Borderline,'" Kurumu explained. "Halfway between humans and Monsters. No one trusts a 'halfway.' They're excluded and discriminated against. In the human world, they're hated even more. Humans killed them for centuries in 'Witch Hunts.'" Tsukune's head shot up at this. Everyone learned about the old witch trials in school at some point, it was considered a rather barbaric period on human history. "So she's probably telling the truth when she says she's always been alone." The word 'alone' echoed through the minds of both Tsukune and Ambrose. Hell, even Riku to a lesser degree because of his shyness.

They could all sympathise one way or another.

~Freshman at Yokai~

Yukari yelled in pain as the Class President violently whacked her into a tree. The scales now covered half of his face and his teeth had sharpened somewhat.

"Nasssty thing," the Class President hissed, _literally. _"So nasssty is a Witchhh." He grinned cruelly as he looked at the young girl before him. This was going to be _fun! _"Lisssten you. We don't need your type in our classs." The Class President and his three friends had all transformed completely into the humanoid lizards known as Lizardmen***. **Basically big, bipedal lizards with large thing spines going down their backs. "It's time for you to… disssapear!"

"Stop, or I'll—" Yukari made a futile attempt to scare off the Lizardmen by waving her wand, but the Class President bit the end of it off, effectively rendering it useless.

"Now… what ssshould we do to her?" the Class President asked his companions. One of them waved a scaled hand in the air enthusiastically.

"No one can sssee usss in thisss fog. Let'sss eat her," he suggested, earning a smile from the Class President and more terrified shakes from Yukari.

"Yesss," the Class President agreed wholeheartedly. "Ssshe'sss young… and tender…" He got close to Yukari and opened his jaws wide, intending to scoop her up in them and chomp her down then and there. Yukari screamed in pure terror, but fortunarely for her somebody had arrived to interrupt the feast.

"STOP!" Moka screamed as she came upon the scene running. "Take your hands off Yukari!" The Class President simply looked at her in nothing but annoyance, then tutted.

"Poor Moka Akassshiya," he hissed in excitement. "Ssshe jussst sssealed her fate." He and his companions turned towards her growling, just _begging _her to try and help Yukari out of this. After all, it would mean more food for them.

"Moka, save yourself!" Yukari shouted in worry. "Forget me! You'll get eaten!" She didn't want Moka to die. Moka had been so nice to her whereas others barely acknowledged her existence unless it was to taunt her. That was why she pranked everyone. If they were going to be mean to her, then she'd give back exactly what she got. But Moka wasn't like them. Moko was… _kind._ But it also seemed that Moka wasn't going to be following her warnings.

"I'm sorry, Yukari," she said rather calmly for someone who was facing down four hungry Lizardmen. "Whether you like it or not… You're not alone. You don't have to handle everything by yourself."

"But…" Yukari tried to protest, but Moka ignored her.

"That's all you really need, you know," Moka told her as she walked forwards. "Just someone you can depend on. You don't have to be crazy-in-love with them. And you don't have to torment people because you're afraid they're going to reject you."

"Quit talking nonsense!" Yukari yelled in desperation, just wanting Moka to run. "Just run, Moka!"

"Yukari… I understand…" Moka soothed her as she got right up in front of the Lizardmen, talking past them to Yukari. "…How hard it is to be alone. I know. I was alone for a long time, too. That's why I want to help you. I'm your _friend, _Yukari. You can count on me." Yukari's eyes widened and tears were brimming in them from everything Moka was saying. The Lizardmen were having a very different reaction.

"Sssay!" the Class President yelled in annoyance. "Are you ignoring me!?" He gripped Yukari by the wrist roughly. "Nobody ignores—" He was cut off as Yukari bit him on the arm, not hurting him but annoying him greatly.

"Enough!" she shouted at him. This did little more than anger him further as his eyes blazed with rage.

"Nobody bitesss the Presssident!" He made a lunge at her, intent on ending her life right there, but then something else happened to stop him.

"Look out!" someone yelled as they ran, then dived, pushing Yukari out of the Lizardman's reach and onto the floor where they landed above her. This person turned out to be Tsukune. Unfortunately for Tsukune, the Class President's claws raked down his back after they missed Yukari, leaving five great gashes from where they'd slashed at his skin. He grunted and hissed in pain but powered through it in order to protect the young Witch in front of him.

"Tsukune!" Moka shouted in worry. Shortly after Tsukune came in, so did Ambrose, Kurumu and Riku. They all looked at the scene in varying levels of interest. It looked like it would all end in a fight… _again!_

"Ts-Tsukune!?" Yukari asked as she looked up at him. She was very confused by the current situation. "But… Why? Why are you here?"

"I…" Tsukune said, though not very clearly. He was fighting the pain to let the words leave his mouth. "…Think I… Understand you a little better now. Like Moka said… You're… Not alone any more…" Yukari couldn't even speak. The shock that someone she'd been so… so… _bitchy _to was defending her and basically offering her friendship was so shocking that she couldn't speak.

"Didn't I tell you—!?" the Class President roared. "QUITE IGNORING ME! You're disssing me! I hate that!" He slowly approached where Tsukune was, his massive jaws open showing all of his large, sharp teeth. Moka rushed over to help her friends, which proved very useful in the long run. Tsukune blindly reached over when he saw Moka was close enough, weakly grabbing for her Rosario. The pain coursing through his body wasn't doing him too well. But, by some miracle, he managed to get a hold on the Rosario and pull it off. The familiar glow filled the area and the Lizardmen were confused. "What's the big idea—!?" Then the glow subsided and Inner Moka was out to play! "Wh-Wh-What!? Sssuch power!?" Yukari was having a much different reaction to Moka's transformation.

_Moka… has fangs… _the young Witch thought as she admired Inner Moka. _And eyes like blood… I'm in love! _Moka was now more attractive in Yukari's eyes, despite her intimidating presence when in her true form.

The Lizardmen didn't even see Moka moving for the most part. They were too focused on the sheer amount of power she seemed to possess. The Class President was powerless to do anything as he saw one of his three friends take a swift, strong kick to the jaw. The Lizardman's blood flew everywhere before he hit the ground unconscious. The exact same thing happened to the other two, both letting off cries of pain as Inner Moka's deadly kick connected with both of them, knocking them out instantly and ridding them of some of their blood in the process. "N-No!" the Class President yelled in both fear and fury. "My brethren… So helpless!?" He turned to Inner Moka, intent on finishing her, but ended up yelling in fear. "What are you!?" He never got an answer. Instead, Inner Moka jumped into the air, spun and kicked the Class President in the side of the head, sending him sprawling to the floor with blood pouring out of his mouth.

"Coward," Inner Moka spat at his unconscious form. "Picking on little kids." She patted her uniform to flatten it out as Ambrose, Kurumu and Riku walked towards them after witnessing the fight.

"You alive, Tsukune?" Ambrose asked. "Yukari?"

"…But why?" Yukari asked Tsukune, not quite believing the reason he gave before. He _couldn't _be that forgiving, could he? "Why would… You even rescue me… let alone care about me?" Tsukune managed to smile at her, despite the pain he was receiving through the marks on his back.

"Let's just say we're friends, okay?" he told her, his pain barely showing through in his voice. This guy could really take a mauling. "And that's what friends do for each other." Yukari couldn't hold it in any more. First she sniffled, then the tears started falling, and finally she was sobbing out loud from the happiness she felt at that moment. And, believe it or not, everyone went up and hugged her.

Well… everyone but Inner Moka. She wouldn't willingly hug anybody.

~Freshman at Yokai~

After school the next day, everyone was content. Yukari had really changed. She'd actually gotten up in front of her class and apologised for all of the pranks she pulled. They all felt pretty guilty, too, because of how they'd treated her. Riku was the only one who didn't, since he'd never interacted with anyone in his class anyway, so he had never done anything particularly mean to her. All-in-all, her new friends were glad she was really growing up.

After school, Tsukune, Moka, Ambrose, Kurumu and Riku were heading over to the Newspaper Club Meeting Room, talking about how happy they were about Yukari's change in luck. That was when Yukari burst out of the clubroom and wrapped Tsukune in as big a hug as someone her size could give.

"Tsukune, my love!" she cheered as she hugged him. Everyone else was seriously confused now. Isn't this basically what she'd done with Moka the day before?

"Yukari!?" Moka yelled in surprise. It looked like the girl had gone from one extreme to the other in terms of how she felt about Tsukune.

"G-Good m-morning, Y-Yukari," Riku greeted their newest friend. He was the only one who knew what she was doing there. She'd told him in class what she was going to do. The whole 'in love with Tsukune' thing was new, though.

"Ah, felicitations," Yukari greeted them all. "I've just transferred to the Newspaper Club! How could I _not, _after all? After all, I love Moka so… And now I love Tsukune just as much!" Ambrose, Kurumu and Riku didn't know whether to laugh or cry looking at Yukari. Moka was more than a little peeved at Yukari's declaration of love for Tsukune. Tsukune was _hers, _he was no one else's! "Every day will be a love fest!" Yukari began chasing Tsukune and Moka around the room. It brought warm feelings to everyone else in the room, seeing how Tsukune and Moka were running hand-in-hand.

"Uh… I think I have some homework to do…" Moka tried making excuses about why she couldn't spend that sort of time with Yukari.

"Did someone just say she's growing up…?" Tsukune laughed as he was chased around the room by the lovestruck Witch.

"So, Ambrose," Kurumu said to the person just to the side of her. "What was it you said yesterday about me being you girlfriend~?" To his credit, Ambrose did need to compose himself before he could respond to her question.

"Well, er… aren't you?" he asked. It was pretty much the only way he could get out of directly answering the question.

"_~Yay~" _Kurumu said as she wrapped him in a hug, a proper hug this time. A hug that Ambrose found himself returning. He got that funny warm feeling in the pit of his stomach again. He didn't know what this feeling was… but he liked it.

Riku looked on in slight envy, knowing that no girl would ever even begin to look at him like that…

* * *

**I'm not entirely convinced that this is one of my better chapters, but I've read through it a few times and decided to go with it. There were three people with the Class President before they all transformed, then afterwards there were only two (in the manga, no such error occurred in the anime) so I just went about it as if the Class President did have three friends.**

**I'm not being funny, but I've always agreed with Tsukune on the subject of Yukari's behaviour in this chapter. It actually pissed me off when I first read it in the manga. Personally, in Tsukune's position, I'd have said _much _worse.**

**Ambrose and Riku didn't get much in this chapter, did they? Well, be fair, this story is still ultimately about Tsukune. My OCs are just there to change a few things, and even they aren't going to be MAJOR changes for a while. Ambrose will be getting his time to shine in about two chapters, if you've read the manga then you should know why that is. It's a very Kurumu-centric chapter and it only makes sense for Ambrose to take the centre stage during that one. And Riku isn't supposed to be a talkative character, anyway.**

**It just occured to me that I never included an entry for Wendigos in the Bitesize Monster Encyclopedia, so I'm putting one in now.**

***Bitesize Monster Encyclopedia**

**Witch: Said to be midway between humans and Monsters, these ancient beings live deep in forests and control the energy of nature with their magic.**

**Lizardman: The reptilian 'beastmen' are a lot smarter than they look. They are hunters with a pack mentality who are very hostile to anyone outside their group.**

**Wendigo: Known through legends in Northern America, these Monsters are said to be the demon-possessed spirits of humans who resort to cannibalism.**

**Next Chapter: Enter: The Medusa**


	6. Chapter 6

**Welcome to chapter 6 of Freshman at Yokai! I apologise to any of you who are into the OC stuff, because this is pretty much just a Tsukune chapter, since it covers his birthday and all (in fact I've changed one bit at the end to make this chapter even more Tsukune/Moka, because otherwise it'll take ages). I'm getting excited now, because this is actually a crucial part of the Security Committee Arc, even though it doesn't really start for two chapters. And we get introduced to this _complete bitch! _I can hardly wait to get started!**

**Cloud4012: Glad to please, next chapter their relationship goes even further, though.**

**victoria cullen33: You know, you're probably my nicest reviewer. It's just nothing but nice words, thank you very much.**

**part 1: True enough. But the idea of this was to put my OCs in and see what changes; changing Tsukune's species would have been too much.**

**deathisakiss: Thank you for your kind words. That was sort of the idea, having the larger changes caused by my OCs come in later rather than earlier. It shows that things won't always change immediately in stories like this, and the changes may happen further down the line than most people seem to think. Thank you once more!**

**Now that we've gotten those lovely reviews out of the way, on with the story!**

* * *

Enter: The Medusa

It had been over two months since the beginning of the year, and Tsukune was still alive. Quite the miracle in itself given the group's tendency to get into trouble. But just let that sink in. A human, your everyday average human, had survived a little over two months at a school for Monsters. And by some other miracle, Tsukune thought he might actually survive to see his sixteenth birthday. _And it's all because of her… _He looked over at Moka Akashiya, who was looking through a book, and still didn't look any less lovely. The sun almost seemed to shine off of her to him… _My birthday… I'd love to spend it with Moka…_ He had so many things in his head that he would love to do with Moka on his birthday, though due to being a teenager not all of them were clean.

"Sorry to intrude…" a voice pulled him out of his fantasies. He looked up to see Gin standing over him, his usual confident smile on his face. The incident a little over a month ago had done absolutely nothing to deter Gin from his perverted tendencies. "…But we have a newspaper to publish." He held his head up high as he walked past Tsukune and stopped just next to Moka. "Hello, Moka!" He took a look at the book she was reading. "What's this? An art book? Becoming an artist, are you?"

"N-No!" Moka denied with an embarrassed blush on her face. She very quickly closed the book and held it away from him. "It's just… um…"

"You're looking quite beautiful today," Gin told her, trying to act all charming and completely disregarding the previous subject of the conversation. "You really ought to go out with me. After all… I love you!" He wore a goofy grin on his face as he began to chase Moka around the room. Tsukune looked on, quite dumbfounded by the scene before him.

_How can he just blurt out 'I love you!?' _Tsukune yelled in his mind. It was something he himself seemed to have a massive amount of trouble saying.

"When do you think he's going to give up?" Ambrose asked from besides Tsukune, startling him somewhat. "He's been trying for about a month now, and he's making about as much progress as a serial killer in rehab." Tsukune and Ambrose could only sweatdrop when Gin's tail popped out and started wagging rapidly form side to side.

"Oh, Ambrose~!" Kurumu cheered as she hugged Ambrose tightly, causing his breath to leave him. Kurumu's good mood hadn't left her at all in the month since Ambrose had made their relationship official. Though he still had yet to display nearly as much affection as she did. "I'm so glad we're in this club together! After all… I love you!" She squeezed him even tighter, causing him to lose the last of his air. The sound of bones cracking could be heard.

"Kuru-Kurumu…" Ambrose choked out, trying to escape from her death grip. He didn't mind her affectionate behaviour, he actually quite liked it to tell the truth, but she was very close to actually breaking his ribs at this stage.

"Stop right there!" a much younger, high pitched voice yelled. Yukari was giving Gin the death glare from hell itself as she came into the room, followed shortly by Riku who just saw it was business as usual. And before Gin knew it, a brass pan had dropped directly onto his head, causing him to cry out in pain. "Anyone who harasses or assaults Moka _or _Tsukune… Must face my magic!" She held her wand in the air proudly, a large smile on her face. "After all… I love them!"

_I guess it's not _that _hard to say, _Tsukune thought in his head. The idea that it was this easy to tell someone you loved them was an entirely alien concept to Tsukune. It wasn't something one usually saw, even in high school. _Okay, then! I'm telling Moka I love her on my birthday! But to do that… I've got to be alone with her! And to do that… I've gotta ask her out!_

~Freshman at Yokai~

Tsukune was doing his usual routine, and walking Moka back to the dorms. Everyone else had just sort of scattered after their jobs at the club were done for the day. It was a daily thing at this point, and it had never been broken. Until today, apparently. Without Tsukune even noticing, Moka veered off and started walking in another direction, only turning around to say goodbye to Tsukune.

"See you later, Tsukune!" she waved at him, causing him to turn around and notice that she had gone a different direction. "I'm going this way today."

"But… I _always _walk you back to the dorms!" Tsukune said, a little put off by the sudden change in routine. Not to mention it was going to put a major dent in his plans to ask her out.

"Yeah… but I kinda have this appointment…" Moka told him.

"Does that drawing pad have something to do with it?" Tsukune asked, referring to the art book she'd been looking in practically all day.

"Uh-huh," Moka nodded shyly. "See, the art teacher asked me to model… But only for a week or so…" And that piece of information was enough to completely destroy Tsukune's hopes.

_Art!? _He thought. _Model!? A week!? But my birthday is only six days from now! _Tsukune started holding his head, pulling out his own hair in sheer frustration. Though Moka got the reason behind this entirely wrong.

"Don't worry, though! I'm still committed to the newspaper!" she assured him.

"This isn't about the club!" he almost yelled at her. _She actually… forgot? _"D-Don't you remember what's coming up?"

"…Coming up?" she asked him in confusion. And the happiness centre of Tsukune's brain was completely destroyed.

_I'm positive I told her about it! _He screamed in his mind. _…My birthday! And she forgot! She just forgot…_ He turned around and began to walk back to the dorms, dejectedly. The amount of depression flooding through his mind was overtaking any other emotions he might have been feeling.

"Tsukune, wait!" Moka called after him. He turned around, hoping she'd remembered until… "Can I drink your blood?"

"What!?" Tsukune finally snapped completely, not that Moka really noticed at the present time. She just thought it was his usual jitteriness about the blood sucking thing. "Where did that come from!?"

"Well… it's just that…" Moka said with a blush. "…Whenever we say goodbye… I feel so _lonely." _She sighed happily. "Tsukune…"

"Moka…" Tsukune also sighed, almost forgetting about the whole thing as he lost himself in her eyes… then she bit him and started sucking out his blood, which is only still there thanks to anime physics. _Not again! She's always doing that to me!_

~Freshman at Yokai~

The next day, in the Newspaper Club, Gin was giving everyone the run-down on a rather large story that has come to light.

"Seven girls have disappeared!" he told them, a strangely serious expression on his face compared to his usual expressions. All of the club members had rather disbelieving and shocked looks on their faces, wondering if he was joking around. He wasn't. "Yes. In just this month, seven of our female classmates have vanished. And every one of them was last seen on school grounds! Your assignment is to gather information about the missing students! We _will _solve this mystery!" Gin gave them all photographs of the seven missing girls so that they knew who they were looking for.

_Gin really takes being a journalist seriously… _Tsukune thought, more than a little surprised by the fact that Gin was being this serious about anything other than peeping at girls. This rather pleasant surprise was ruined mere moments later.

"As you can see from the photos, all of the girls are good looking," Gin told them as he started dramatically out of the window. "Someone might be abducting them. If so, I have to save them. Then Moka's bound to fall for me!"

_That's what this is about!? _Tsukune was disappointed. Hell, they were all disappointed. But none of them were surprised.

"Gin, there are these great new things called 'priorities,'" Ambrose said. "It'd probably be a good idea to get them right." He had honestly wondered how Gin hadn't had the message beaten into him by the girls of the school by now. They laid into him so much that it was only thanks to his Monster healing factor that he still had his face intact.

Tsukune wasn't really listening to the rest of the conversation. Despite his resentment of Gin's motives he had to admit, his head wasn't entirely focused on the newspaper, either.

~Freshman at Yokai~

_What am I to Moka, really? _Tsukune wondered as he hobbled back towards the dorms, using a large branch for support. Moka had just finished drinking from him again, and she went a little overboard this time. Still, at least she didn't kill him. _She sucks my blood… Forgets my birthday… and…_

"Thanks for waiting, Sensei!" he heard the voice of the girl in question nearby. Tsukune walked a little in the direction he heard the voice coming from, peaked out from behind a particularly large tree, and saw Moka talking to somebody.

"No problem," the woman Moka was talking to said. "Glad you could make it, Moka." The woman was in her late twenties, possibly early thirties, and had an hourglass figure. She wore a bandanna over her braided hair, which was blonde with a few black streaks in it. She wore a tube top, slim jeans, pumps, a golden necklace and a long trench coat that had paint stains covering it. "You're so pretty… Just looking at you makes me want to create art." This was the Yokai Academy art teacher, Hitomi Ishigami. "But nothing I create will ever compare to your beauty." Moka bowed to the teacher in respect before speakin enthusiastically.

"I'm really looking forward to modelling this week!" she exclaimed. The excitement and anticipation in her voice was clear for both Tsukune and Ms. Ishigami to hear.

"I'm so glad," Ms. Ishigami responded with a warm smiled directed at the pink-haired Vampire.

_So she was telling the truth about modelling… _Tsukune thought, his depression that this was apparently more important to her than his birthday returning. _And for a whole week, too… But I wanna spend my birthday with Moka! _And with that resolve, Tsukune began to follow the two as they made their way throughout the school. He wanted to see what sort of modelling Moka was doing that would take all week. It actually occurred to him on the way there that he wasn't really doing it for that reason; he was just trying to find an opportunity to ask her out. Which is fine, too, as motivations go. They ended up entering a classroom in the Independent Study building that Tsukune recognised as the Art Studio, a classroom that a student could use between classes or after school for art purposes. Upon entering, Tsukune kept to the back of the room, trying to keep out of Moka's line of sight. It worked, and no one else saw him, either, since all of the girls in the room were pretty much swooning over Ms. Ishigami.

"Now then… let's get started," Ms. Ishigami announced to the students in the room, not taking any notice of Tsukune since he was sat in the corner of the room. "Continuing on from last week, I want you to draw what matters most to you. Whatever is important to you lives in your heart. If you draw that… It will be art!" Even more of the female students had begun surrounding Ms. Ishigami while she was speaking, all of whom had enthusiastic smiles on their faces.

_Geez, _Tsukune thought as he looked at the scene in front of him with confusion. _Ms. Ishigami sure is popular with the girls. I wonder why…_

"I skipped Gym to hang out in the art studio!" one girl announced as she climed into the room through the window. Most, if not all, of the students in the room had a free period at the time. Though it seemed that Ms. Ishigami didn't really care that this girl was breaking the school rules as she simply responded with a smile.

"That's nice," Ms. Ishigami told her, smiling warmly at the student.

_Man… even girls from other classes… _This entire thing had suddenly gotten even more confusing for Tsukune. Weren't the teachers supposed to uphold the school rules? There was something weird about Ms. Ishigami, no doubt about it. _I wonder what kind of modelling… _Tsukune reached and grabbed a book Ms. Ishigami had left on a nearby desk, still undetected by anyone in the room. Either that or they didn't care. _…She's got Moka doing for her? _Tsukune flipped the most recent page in the book and saw a drawing… A _nude _drawing of a rather attractive girl. _N-N-No! Not… nudes!? _The shock Tsukune was feeling completely overwhelmed him. _That oughta be agains the rules… _It really didn't occur to Tsukune that this might have been just a random drawing.

"Sensei, would you help me…?" Moka called over to the crowded teacher. She was paranoid that her work wouldn't be good enough. Worried that she was going to mess it up. But she _couldn't _mess it up! It had to be perfect, after all.

Tsukune looked at Moka sadly as the teacher came over to help her. _Moka… _he thought, _we've barely talked lately… You seem so distant… _That was it. His resolve was final. Before his birthday, he would officially ask Moka out! But…

…It didn't exactly go as he wanted it to.

~Freshman at Yokai~

It was two days before Tsukune's birthday. That's right. He had been trying and failing to ask Moka to spend his birthday with him for four days running! A fact that he was just now explaining to Ambrose, hoping he had some way of helping him. God knows he needed it at this point. He was sitting on Ambrose's bed in his dorm room, having gone in there to seek some sort of advice. Advice that Ambrose didn't really know enough about to give it.

"So, the day Kurumu tackled me out of the classroom and directly into you, we really did interrupt something?" Ambrose asked as Tsukune explained his plight. _I had wondered why Tsukune looked so down after that, _Ambrose thought.

"Yeah, and it keeps happening," Tsukune told him with a dejected sigh. "If it's not you and Kurumu, it's Yukari doing her thing. Or it's Gin trying to ask her out as well. Hell, even _Riku _interrupted us once!" It was true. The day before just so happened to be the day when Riku wanted confirmation that what he was writing about the missing girls case was good. He would have gone to Gin, but he didn't like him.

"Holy shit, really?" Ambrose asked, getting a nod from Tsukune in response. "Well, I dunno what to tell you, man. It just sounds like Lady Luck has decided to take a crap on you." He thought for a moment before an idea popped into his head. "Why don't you head down to the Independent Study building and just ask Moka out when everyone starts leaving. Everyone in our club is usually back at the dorms by then." A smile managed to work its way onto Tsukune's face as he contemplated Ambrose's idea.

"You know… I think I might try that," he said. He looked at Ambrose with an appreciative expression. "Thanks, Ambrose. I owe you one."

"No problem," Ambrose told him. "Maybe you can help me out with my Kurumu problem some time."

"You and Kurumu have a problem?" Tsukune asked in curiosity. It certainly didn't _seem _like they had a problem.

"Well, not really a _problem," _Ambrose told him, scratching the back of his head as he thought how to phrase it. "It's not really… er. It's like, um, I just don't know. You know?" Tsukune looked confused. It wasn't often Ambrose struggled with his words like this. "What I mean is… I don't really know how I feel. She's made it damn clear how she feels, but I don't really know. I know I feel something, but I've never felt it before, so I just don't know. Is this normal?"

"For a guy who's never been in a relationship?" Tsukune asked with a smile. "Yes, Ambrose. It's pretty normal."

"Oh, thank God for that," Ambrose sighed in relief. "So, what? Should I just keep thinking about it?"

"Just… go with what feels right, man," Tsukune told him. Admittedly, he wasn't the most knowledgable on the subject either. But helping friends was something he wanted to do, so he'd try his hardest even if he didn't fully understand how they were feeling.

"Okay," Ambrose nodded. Tsukune stood up from Ambrose's bed and made for the door. He would go tomorrow and make sure he could ask Moka out!

"Night, Ambrose," he said as he left the room.

~Freshman at Yokai~

This was it. It was the last day before Tsukune's birthday, and this was the last opportunity he was going to get to ask Moka to spend his birthday with him. It was after school, at a time where the students who used the Art Studio probably should have been leaving, and he approached the independent study building. Thunder and lightning boomed ominously in the background (as usual) as Tsukune entered into the building. After some walking, he stopped outside the Art Studio and started breathing heavily, psyching himself up for what he was about to do.

_My final chance! _He thought with determination. _I'm going in! And I'm asking her out! _"Okay," he said to himself as he opened the door and prepared to enter the room. "Moka! I've come here…" That's when he noticed that the Art Studio was, in fact, empty. "…To talk to myself…" He very nearly fell over from the embarrassment of the situation. "Oh, well. I'll just wait until…" Then he heard the sobbing. It was a rather loud, echoing sob, so it could only be coming from a confined space. It didn't take Tsukune long to locate the source of the sobbing in a locker with an ajar door. "S-Somebody's crying inside that locker…?" Tsukune asked himself. His paranoia was setting in a little, and to him it sounded like Moka. His theory was proven wrong when he opened the locker and gasped in shock. It wasn't Moka. Not at all.

Stood inside the locker, was a stone statue. The stone statue of a naked girl, no less, though her arms shielded all of her private areas from view. Whoever this statue was of, she looked incredibly upset. Then the sobbing started again. Tsukune gasped in shock. _A statue that… that… cries!? _He thought in shock. It was true, too, the statue was in fact the origin of the sobbing noises. "Th-There's something… about its hair… Something familiar…" Tsukune began to walk backwards in shock and confusion as he stared at the sobbing statue.

"What…" said a familiar voice, in a low, threatening tone behind him. "…Are you doing with my art?" Tsukune let out a noise of surprise as he turned his head and saw the person who ran the school's are department.

"M-Ms. Ishigami!?" he nearly yelped in surprise and fear at her tone of voice. "I-I-I'm sorry, I…"

"Hm," Ms. Ishigami hummed, her dark facial features scrutinising Tsukune as she stared at him with a gaze of steel… which transformed into a smile as if it had never been there to begin with. "Oh, yes! Tsukune, right?" This confused Tsukune to no end.

_She looked so different… _he thought. He had no idea a person's facial expression could completely change their face in the way hers seemed to. It almost looked like she'd transformed for a moment… But, no. A teacher would never break the rules like that… would they?

"You must've come to walk Moka back to the dorm," Ms. Ishigami stated, matter-of-factly. "I guess it's your only hope of talking to her since she started modelling."

"How do you know that!?" Tsukune asked in disbelief. How did this teacher know of his and Moka's distancing friendship?

"Easy," Ms. Ishigami said with a smirk, poorly disguised as a warm smile. The sound of the door opening could be heard, before both people in the room turned to look at who it was.

"Tsukune?" Moka asked in confusion as she entered the room. "What… Are you doing here…?"

"Moka!" Tsukune said as she walked towards him. All of his previous determination had left him, apparently, because he couldn't seem to form the right words to tell her why he was there. "Oh… well… um…" Moka had begun to sweat slightly and an embarrassed blush had adorned her face for some reason. "You see… I…"

"Get out," Moka told him before getting behind him and beginning to push him out of the door, her huge crimson cheeks giving away that she was embarrassed about something.

"Huh?" Tsukune asked in confusion as he was pushed closer to the door.

"I can't let you see!" Moka exclaimed in pure embarrassment. "Go away!" This only seemed to prove Tsukune's theory from a few days ago.

"You mean… you really _are _modelling in the nude…!?" Tsukune asked in horror. Moka's blush got worse immediately, and she even seemed to get slightly angry at her human friend.

"What I do is none of your business!" she yelled at him. "Just _go!_" Unfortunately for her, this sent Tsukune the complete wrong message. Hurt and anger and all sorts of different emotions flooded Tsukune's body as he turned to face her with an expression showing all of them at once.

"So that's the deal," he said in a tone that portrayed none of the emotions his face showed. "I get it now, Moka…" His voice became a yell of hurt, anger and all of the other emotions that filled his mind. "YOU DON'T EVEN CARE ABOUT ME!" He then turned tail and ran out of the classroom as fast as his legs would carry him.

"Tsukune…!?" Moka called after him, apparently realising how her words made it sound, and wanting to clarify the situation. Meanwhile, Tsukune ran down the corridors and out of the independent study building.

_Stupid birthday! _He screamed in his mind as he ran. _She never cared from the start. My feelings for her… all a waste… _He ran further away from the building, towards the Newspaper Club room, where he could hopefully distract himself from the feeling of hurt and betrayal that haunted his mind.

~Freshman at Yokai~

"Tsukune…" Moka muttered out as she began to make her way towards the door, only to stop when a hand grabbed her arm and held her back. "M… Ms. Ishigami…?" Confusion filled Moka's mind as she looked at the art teacher, who's expression had darkened significantly.

"I'm sorry," Ms. Ishigami said, her usual happy tone gone completely. "I can't let you go." And that's when her transformation began, and Moka's mind was filled with fear.

~Freshman at Yokai~

"Most peculiar," Yukari commented as she stared into the Crystal Ball she had on the table. "A dread energy clings to Moka and Tsukune." Her face was contorted into one of worry and confusion at what could possibly mean those two harm.

"Watcha doin', Yukari?" Kurumu asked as she and Ambrose looked at the round thing on the table.

"My Crystal Ball," Yukari answered them as she continued to look into said object.

"Can we presume it isn't one of those fake ones fortune tellers use?" Ambrose asked, to which she nodded. "Well, shit, see if you can figure out what's trying to kill them this time."

"I foresee a great danger closing in on both of them," Yukari continued, the Crystal Ball showing an image of numerous snakes slithering around one another, and waving in the air in a threatening manner. "And my predictions are usually correct."

"Th-Then sh-shouldn't w-we go a-and f-f-find th-them?" Riku asked in a worried tone. He wouldn't be very good in a fight, but he was worried about whatever may be closing in on his two friends. But before anyone had a chance to worry any further, Tsukune walked through the door with a rather depressed expression on his face.

"…Hey," he greeted them in a downbeat tone of voice.

"Hello, Tsukune," Ambrose greeted him back. "Good thing you showed up when you did, we were getting scared to death. And what's with that face? Has some fucker been messing with you again?" If he was lucky the dread energy would just be another Monster beatdown away from being solved. If not… well, he really didn't want to think about any ways this year could get even more complicated.

"Hmph," Gin grunted as he looked at Tsukune with disapproval. "You're late." He picked up a piece of paper from the desk he was using, walked over to Tsukune and gave the paper to him. "While you were wasting your time, another student disappeared. That makes eight!" Tsukune took a moment to look at the picture of the most recent missing girl. What he saw shocked, scared and disturbed him to the highest level imaginable.

"My God!" he practically yelled as he looked at the missing girl in the poster. "This girl—" The girl in the photo was rather attractive, and had her hair styled in a strange way. She looked disturbingly familiar to Tsukune, as he had just seen her. _She looks just like the crying statue! _Tsukune realised in shock.

"What's with you?" Gin asked in anger at Tsukune's outburst… but, despite what some may think, there was some genuine concern in there somewhere.

_I was wondering where I'd seen her before… _Tsukune thought as he continued to stare at the picture. _It's the girl who skipped Gym to hang out with Ms. Ishigami! She's disappeared!? _His already massive sense of fear somehow grew as he came to a conclusion that terrified him to his very core. _Then… is Moka next!?_

"Tsukune, what's wrong?" Ambrose asked him, approaching him to put a hand on his shoulder. He never got the chance. Tsukune darted out of the room faster than any of them had ever seen him move, dropping the missing girl's photo onto the floor was he left.

He would have to move quickly!

~Freshman at Yokai~

Moka let out a scream of shock as she looked at Ms. Ishigami. "Sensei… wh-what's happening to you!?" she exclaimed as she looked on in horror at the art teacher. "Your hair is moving like… snakes…" And it truly was. Ms. Ishigami had removed her bandanna and her hair was sort of slithering around both on her scalp and in the air. She looked at Moka with a face full of happiness as she responded.

"Sadly… Tsukune saw something he shouldn't have," Ms. Ishigami told Moka, her smile never once wavering. It grew into an evil-looking smirk as she said her next sentence with a voice full of malice. "So now our time together… Must come to an end. So sorry." Her hair had elongated itself massively, some of it spreading about four feet from her head. One of her now extraordinarily long hairs darted towards Moka and made contact with her arm, causing two small jolts of stabbing pain to run through the poor girl. Moka caught one quick glimpse of a scaled head attached to her arm before she passed out completely.

_**Some time later…**_

Moka groaned as she awakened. She rubbed her head as she looked around her new surroundings in confusion. "Where am I…?" she asked as she sat up to get a better look around. She was in some sort of art room; she could tell by the paintings on the walls, and the seven naked statues of girls… which were _all _sobbing. Moka's expression turned to fear, anger and confusion as she looked around the room at all of the sobbing statues. "Wh-What…? What are these things!?" She felt a numbness in the arm that was caught by Ms. Ishigami's hair and looked down at the damage. What she saw frightened her even further. Her now stone hand made a cracking noise as she unsuccessfully attempted to move it. "My… My hand… turning to… stone…?"

"Such is _Medusa_*****" came the voice of Ms. Ishigami, her silhouette being the only thing visible to Moka as she stood in the doorway. "Any living thing bitten by my hair of snakes… Turns to stone. Just like these girls." Her hair could be seen visibly moving around, almost floating from the top of her head, and it could also be heard hissing.

"Then… you mean…" Realisation finally began to dawn on Moka as she once again looked at the sobbing statues. "These statues are actually—"

"Your schoolmates," Ms. Ishigami finished off. She had stepped forwards now and Moka could see her clearly. Her hair was, indeed, made up entirely of snakes, which moved around and hissed in a threatening manner. Her overall appearance stayed mostly the same, except for certain areas of skin becoming scaled, most noticeably the areas beneath her eyes. She smiled cruelly, madly, showing off two long snake-like fangs in her mouth. "All turned into statues. Into works of art. Now the most _beautiful _girl of all… will join my collection." Before Moka knew what was going on, the snakes had stretched out from their position on Ms. Ishigami's head, and were coiling around her, too fast for her to stop. No matter how much she struggled.

"N… No…" she tried feebly to deny as more and more of the snake-hair wound its way around her body. Her fear almost reached its breaking point as her body was almost completely encompassed in snakes.

"You should consider yourself lucky," Ms. Ishigami said as if she were doing Moka a favour. "I'm preserving your beauty… for the ages."

"Sensei…" Moka gasped as the snakes tightened their grip around her. "How could you do this… to these girls?"

"Look at them," Ms. Ishigami told her as she smiled at the statues, caressing them as she walked past each one. "Turned to stone… but still alive. Nothing left for them… But sorrow and despair. They can't move. They can't die. They can only weep." Her smile turned to one of complete and utter bliss as she looked upon her creations. "How beautiful they are! This… is _art._" She turned back to Moka, whose look of fear was now one of hopelessness as she realised how completely insane her art teacher was. "Now… let's finish you off."

"NO!" someone yelled as they made a mad dash into the room, coming to a stop next to the snake-tangled Moka. "STOP!" As soon as this person had entered the room, Moka knew exactly who it was.

"Tsukune!" she exclaimed as he began grabbing and pulling the snakes off of her.

"You're insane!" Tsukune shouted at the crazed art teacher as he pulled at her snake hair. "You're not gonna turn Moka to stone!"

"Oh? Heh," Ms. Ishigami said in a mocking, yet seriously pissed off, tone. "Get out of my way."

"No, Tsukune!" Moka yelled at him in fear for his life. "Run! Or you'll…" She was cut off by two snakes sinking their fangs into her legs, causing Tsukune to pull even harder on the snakes in his hands.

"N-No!" Tsukune denied her. "I won't… lose you… Moka!" He kept continuously plunging his hands into the sea of snakes around Moka, grabbing onto them, but also searching for something else. "I don't care if you don't need me… Because I still need you!"

"Oh, shut up!" Ms. Ishigami shouted at him in nothing but pure rage. Before Tsukune knew it, several of her snakes had sunk their fangs into different parts of his body. Pain and numbness began to spread throughout his body as he slowly began to freeze.

"TSUKUNE!" a distraught Moka cried out as she watched him slowly turn to stone before her eyes. Eventually he could no longer stand, falling to the ground with a snake still firmly grasped in one hand. But, unfortunately for Ms. Ishigami, something else was also tightly held by him. Ms. Ishigami laughed maniacally as she watched Tsukune fall to the ground in front of her.

"Witness the hero!" she yelled mockingly at Moka, who was looking at the stone Tsukune in horror. "Stone! Suffering, immobile for eternity!" Her mad tirade of laughter continued until something caused her to stop. That something being the insanely large amount of power radiating off of Moka, and the bright light that had also surrounded her form. "Wha…? What!? WHAT'S HAPPENING!?" Tsukune, who still had enough of his face left to speak, smirked rather darkly at the Medusa as he explained _exactly _what was happening.

"Moka… her power is unleashed when the Rosario is removed from around her throat," he told the psychotic art teacher. Ms. Ishigami looked at the object in Tsukune's hand, seeing the Rosario firmly gripped in the stone appendage. Ms. Ishigami could only look on in horror at Moka, whose hair had turned silver, and her eyes red.

_I've never experienced such power… _Ms. Ishigami thought as Moka's transformation reached its final moments. _My hair can't take it! _She was most definitely correct, as the snakes constricting Moka began getting ripped apart in a bloody mess just from the amount of power the Vampire was emitting from her body. Ms. Ishigami cried out in pain as the snakes were torn apart before her, and Inner Moka threw their bloody corpses away from her, pure rage filling her blood-red eyes.

"MY HAIR!" Ms. Ishigami screamed in terror and pain as she looked down on what had once been at least a dozen living snakes, and was now nothing more than a pile of blood and scales on the floor, and some still attached to her. She turned to look at Inner Moka, all fear gone and replaced with fury. "You… Little… SAVAGE! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF ART! TURN TO STONE!" But before she could send the rest of her snakes towards Inner Moka, Inner Moka jumped high into the air, towards Ms. Ishigami, and kicked her full-on in the head with her one stone leg, grinning sadistically as she watched the blood spurt from the art teacher's forehead.

"How does it feel to be kicked with a leg of stone?" Inner Moka asked Ms. Ishigami, who fell unconscious before she could even think about answering. Inner Moka turned her attention to the now fully-stoned Tsukune, who was laying motionless on the floor. _You… shoved your hand into that mass of snakes… to save me. _It wasn't so much admiration filling her thoughts, as much as it was respect for the human who had the guts to do such a thing. _Tsukune… what a guy._

~Freshman at Yokai~

Tsukune gasped awake, curiosity and joy both filling him as he realised that he was no longer made of stone. "H-Huh… where am I?" he asked himself as he sat up in the bed and looked out of the window.

"Tsukune! You're awake!" Moka cheered as she enveloped him in a hug. Tsukune took a while registering her presence, since he was still rather curious about how he was moving, speaking, or just generally doing anything right now.

"Huh!? Moka!?" he exclaimed as his other senses finally returned to him. "But… I thought I got turned to stone…!"

"When we defeated Ms. Ishigami, the spell broke," Moka told him with a joyous smile on her face. "Everyone turned back to normal. But you didn't wake up for a whole day. I was so worried."

_A whole day!? _Tsukune thought in shock as he remembered what he'd been trying to do for the past few days. _Then that means… it's already my birthday!? And I never got the chance to tell her…? _His body slumped as depression began to seep over him once more.

"Tsukune… look!" Moka told him. Tsukune looked up to see Moka showing him a large piece of paper with a drawing… of _him _on it. "Ta-daa~!" Moka looked thoroughly embarrassed that she'd used that particular phrase. "It's a present! The theme was 'what matters most' to me… so I drew you, Tsukune!" Tsukune gasped in shock as all the pieces scattered over the past six days fell into place. "I kept it a secret. I was getting drawing lessons from Ms. Ishigami so I could draw this. …In exchange for modelling. Happy birthday, Tsukune! You mean so much to me!"

Tears were actually forming in Tsukune's eyes as happiness overwhelmed his entire being. _She remembered…! _He thought in joy. He actually had to wipe his eyes to keep from full-on sobbing in happiness that Moka really had remembered. "And you… mean a lot to me…" Tsukune said as he rubbed his eyes. Moka looked at him curiously as he spoke up again. "Moka, I… I lo…"

~Freshman at Yokai~

"Tsukune had better be awake," Ambrose said as he and the others approached, each with a different gift for Tsukune's birthday. "I'd hate it if we had to eat all of this cake for him."

"I really hope he's all right," Yukari said in concern, her usual upbeat demeanour being replaced with a slightly gloomy one.

"D-Don't w-worry, Y-Yukari," Riku said to her. "A-At th-the r-r-rate the sp-spell's b-been w-wearing o-off e-everyone e-e-else, even i-if h-he i-isn't, i-it sh-shouldn't t-t-take a-anymore th-than a c-couple of h-hours."

"Whoa, guys," Ambrose said as he raised a hand. "Hold up, hold up." He looked through the window into the nurse's office and saw Moka and a conscious Tsukune having what seemed to be a touching moment. He smiled softly and decided he'd give them a little longer. He turned to the others and spoke again. "So, just a last minute check. Has everybody got everything? I'd hate to go in there and realise we forgot something important."

~Freshman at Yokai~

"I… I lo…" Tsukune sighed. With one last ditch attempt, he dug deeply into himself and finally managed to come out with it. "I love you, Moka." The shear amount of joy he felt inside upon finally managing to say it would have probably blown up the body of any other person. That didn't last long, however, as Moka covered her mouth with her hands and tears welled in her eyes. "Crap, I'm sorry, Mo…" He was very abruptly cut off when Moka grabbed him and hugged him close to her. That was the moment Tsukune realised that her tears were tears of happiness, and he in turn was made happier by the implications of them.

"I-I love you, too, Tsukune," a teary-eyed Moka said as she hugged Tsukune to her. She leaned away from him slightly, and the two ended up looking each other directly in the eyes. With hearts pounding in their throats, the two of them began to slowly lean towards one-another. Both of their hearts stopped for a brief second as their lips gently brushed each others in a light, chaste kiss.

This was heaven for Tsukune. This girl had been so kind, so understanding of him since day one, how could he not fall for her? And the fact that she felt the same… It didn't feel real to him. How did he ever get this lucky?

It was actually an even better experience for Moka. After all of the ridicule, all of the harassment she'd gotten when she'd been in the human world, the fact that Tsukune, a human, returned her feelings was the best thing she could imagine. No negative emotions even existed in her mind at that moment. Nothing could ruin this moment…

The door opened and everyone else in the Newspaper Club, including Gin oddly enough, came in with smiles on their faces. Tsukune and Moka separated immediately upon their entry, embarrassed blushes on both of their faces.

"Tsukune! You're awake!" Yukari said enthusiastically upon seeing him.

"Happy birthday, man, happy birthday," Ambrose said as he sent a knowing smile to the two by the window.

"I baked you some cookies!" Kurumu said as she held out a basket of the things, her other arm linked with Ambrose's.

"And I brought you a Voodoo Doll!" Yukari said as she held the straw doll out to him.

"Myself, Riku and Gin all pitched in to make you a birthday cake," Ambrose told him as he gestured to Riku, who was holding said cake. "We would have gotten you something individually. But, to be honest, none of us had a clue what sort of thing you'd like."

Tsukune wasn't really paying attention. All that filled his mind were thoughts of his kiss with Moka. The fact that he'd finally confessed his love to her, and she returned those feelings, had put him in the best mood he'd ever been in in his life. It was amazing!

As far as Tsukune was concerned, this day was already perfect.

* * *

**Well, what do you think? Unlike in the manga, I let Tsukune and Moka actually finish their little moment at the end. And as a result, we get Tsukune/Moka made official much earlier.**

**I'm looking forward to writing the next chapter, because it's primarily Ambrose/Kurumu. Be happy. It'll also mark Ambrose's first full fight scene!**

***Bitesize Monster Encyclopedia**

**Medusa: Known from the myths of Ancient Greece, a being with the hair of snakes and a terrifying visage. Able to turn living beings into stone... Some say all it takes is a glimpse of her face.**

**Next Chapter: Enter: The Slug Monster**

**I am very sorry to have to tell you this, but the next chapter will not be out until at least August. The reason for this is that my laptop has stopped agreeing with me, and I'm getting a new one for my birthday, which happens to be the 28th of July. So until around early August, you're not going to be seeing any updates from me. It was a bitch just to get this on here. I am very sorry to those of you who enjoy this story, and I will see you then!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Well, here I am again! So sorry for the wait. But this new laptop's working like a charm, and I've still got a fair few weeks with nothing to do but write, so I'm gonna enjoy that! Now that my skull-fuckingly long hiatus has ended, let's get onto some reviews!**

**victoria cullen33: Thank you once more! I'm truly appreciating the support I've been getting!**

**Guest: Very true, my friend. But she's already started to respect him slightly after he stuck his hand into a sea of stone-making snakes to rescue Outer Moka, so that's a good start, don't you think?**

**WinLik3aBoSS: Well, here's the very long awaited update for you. Yes, it's Riku/Mizore, you didn't get that wrong. It's good to hear that you like them. Yeah, the laptop was a bit of a bastard. The new laptop's working a lot better though. Thank you very much for your kind words, and I hope you continue to enjoy this story.**

**Kamen rider w: Well, here's the update.**

**TJMike: Gracias por sus amables palabras y saludos a usted, también , desde el Reino Unido! (I hope I didn't mess that up, my Spanish isn't the best)**

**Guest: Well, here's that update you've asked for on most of my stories. Hope you enjoy!**

**I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my followers and favouriters, because you guys push me to continue. Sure, not many of you review, but the fact that you're following is more than enough motivation for me. There may not be many of you by the standards of other people, but I've got stories that only three or four people read, and I still carry on with those. So thank you, thank you for sticking with this, it really means a lot.**

**...Not sure where that came from, to be honest, I just felt like I had to thank you for some reason. Oh, yeah, technically speaking this marks the end of the first story arc, so maybe that's it.**

**Well, let's get on with this. Pretty much the whole chapter is Ambrose/Kurumu. Oh, and things get a tad heated between the two of them at the end of the chapter. It's not a lemon - not yet, anyway - but it's still a little hot and heavy for younger readers. This also contains my first original fight scene, and even then something similar to canon happens at the end of it, so tell me how I do in that department as well, if you please.**

* * *

Enter: The Slug Monster

The Newspaper Club were hard at work after the incident a couple of days prior. It may have been Tsukune's birthday the day before, but they still had a deadline to meet. If there was one thing they'd learned in the time they'd been a part of the club, it was that while Gin was a pervert he was still incredibly passionate about the school newspaper. It was one of the few things they admired about him.

"... Tsukune?" Moka said to the teen in question, who had been blankly staring out of the window for a while now. "You seem so far away." Her voice was laced with concern. Ever since they'd officially become a couple the day before her concern for him had sky-rocketed. It also didn't help that Inner Moka wasn't entirely convinced of Tsukune's 'suitability' for her. His will to plunge his hands into a sea of live snakes may have impressed her, but she was still a hard one to win over. "Only two days 'til the paper prints! C'mon we've gotta keep working." She was hoping that urging him on with the work would motivate him out of whatever mood he appeared to be in.

"Sorry ... just lost track of reality for a minute there ..." Tsukune told her. In truth he'd been wondering about the seasons in that school. Seeing as how they'd been there for about two months, maybe a little more, and they still hadn't changed from their winter uniforms, he was just curious as to whether or not the seasons actually changed there. The sky was always cloudy, and the air was neither hot nor cold. All of this reminded him just how cut off from his world he really was. He put on a light smile for Moka as he said, "Besides, I'm perfectly happy doing anything as long as I'm with you, Moka."

"St-stop it," Moka said while blushing heavily. She was definitely happy now that Tsukune and her were officially a couple, but she was still the type to become easily flustered, especially when it came to comments like that. "Yesterday was your birthday ... and now we're on a tight deadline!"

They were printing the story about Ms. Ishigami, you see, and due to the nature of that particular incident, they knew they would have to get the story out there with their next issue. Speed is the lifeblood of a newspaper, after all. All of the self-pity Tsukune had felt on his birthday was a thing of the past as he'd finally gotten with Moka. He knew that he had to put all of those bad feelings behind him. He was a journalist now! And he needed to get his reporter wheels working at high speed!

A groan sounded from the throat of a certain blue-haired Succubus. "This is killing me," she complained. "Cooped up inside all weekend!" She could think of much better things to do with her time ... all of which involved Ambrose in one way or another.

"So true," Yukari agreed with her. "I feel like a manga artist in the shadow of a perpetual deadline. But without assistants!" Despite her agreeing with Kurumu's statement, Yukari still continued to speak in an upbeat tone with that apparently permanent smile on her face.

"Quit complaining!" Gin interrupted them, slamming his hands onto the table. "Newspapers live and die by deadlines! Our front page story happened Thursday—the day before yesterday! If we don't have it in print by the beginning of next week, we can hardly call it 'news!'" He completely destroyed his own point about working by grabbing a steaming hot cup of coffee, and sitting down to drink it. "Save your bitching for _after _we've put the paper to bed."

"Don't just sit there sipping your coffee!" Moka yelled at him in irritation. This didn't come a shock to anyone, considering that Gin was pretty much the only person she yelled at on a regular basis.

"Just like a manga editor …" Yukari said, referring to Gin's attitude.

"You're very fond of manga, aren't you?" Ambrose asked her, getting an enthusiastic nod in response. "Can't fault you there, though they do have some weird shit sometimes." He felt a tugging on his sleeve, looked to where it was coming from, and was immediately pulled into a hug from Kurumu. He smiled at her and patted her back as a sort of return hug.

"Well I don't care what I'm doing ..." Kurumu announced. "... As long as I'm with you, Ambrose!" She gave a tight squeeze through the hug, effectively crushing out whatever air he had.

"I-I th-think he n-needs to br-br-breath a-at s-some point, K-Kurumu," Riku told her, though the beginnings of an amused smirk were on his face. Eventually Kurumu calmed down enough for Ambrose to be able so speak (not to mention breath) again.

"You certainly make this club much easier to get through, Kurumu," he told her, resting a hand on her shoulder. While he wasn't nearly as affectionate as she was, he still showed his care for her in small ways while he figured out if he really wanted to take the relationship any further. He was slightly ... _conflicted _about his feelings for her due to his current situation, and while he definitely knew he had romantic feelings for her, he wasn't sure whether or not he should move forward with them.

Little did he know that his decision would soon be made clear. Far outside the classroom, a photo was being taken by a student, who looked into the Newspaper Club Room with a look of longing.

"Ah, there she is, my love!" he said to himself, a smile on his face. "So sweet. I can't stand just watching her from afar ... Soon, Kurumu ... you will be mine!" The student began laughing to himself as he thought about how he was going to make Kurumu his.

And he was going to be sure no one would interfere!

Back in the Club Room, Ms. Nekonome had just come in to see how the members were doing. "Everyone hard at work?" she asked them. She held up a bad that contained something foul-smelling to Ambrose's nostrils. "I brought munchies!"

"Ms. Nekonome …" Gin whined, seeing this as yet another distraction from the work.

"How are things progressing?" Ms. Nekonome asked them. She then noticed how stressed out they all seemed whilst hastily writing on a rather large amount of paper. "Ah, but I guess I don't really have to ask."

"So many pages this issue!" Moka told her, trying to keep on a happy face.

"Are you sure we're not trying to put together a professional novel here?" Ambrose asked the club advisor.

"Th-That w-w-would t-take a l-lot l-longer," Riku said to Ambrose.

"Well, have a snack," she told them, passing them the bag she brought. The smell making Ambrose cringe back in disgust. "It'll lift your spirits!"

Tsukune lifted one of the 'snacks' from the bag. "Sensei!" he exclaimed upon examining the thing he pulled out of the bag. "This fish … it's …"

"You don't like sashimi?" Ms. Nekonome asked.

"Sashimi is fine," Ambrose said, eyeing the fish and holding his nose to keep out the smell. "But, correct me if I'm wrong, doesn't the fish normally have to be dead first?" In Tsukune's hand, still full of life for some reason, was the flopping form of a fish.

Ms. Nekonome gave a slight pout at them before her eyes widened as if realising something. "Oh, Kurumu …" she said to the busty Succubus, waving an envelope around in her hand. "This is addressed to you … I saw it by the door."

Kurumu took the envelope and looked down at it in confusion. On it was written: 'To my beloved Kurumu' and was signed at the bottom by 'Nagare.' _A love letter …? _She asked in her mind. _'Nagare,' who's that …? _She thought about just throwing it away, but in the end her curiosity got the best of her and she decided to take a look. She opened up the envelope and took a look at the contents. What she saw inside shocked and terrified her to her very core. There were numerous photographs of her posing, showing off her underwear, up her skirt and some where she wore practically nothing. _This is … no love letter. _There was a note tucked in between some of the photos. It read: 'Unless you want these photos spread all over school, come alone to the 'Monster Tree' after school.'

"Are you all right, Kurumu?" Ambrose asked from across the table. He'd noticed her space out while looking at the contents of the envelope and was now wondering exactly what was in there. Her reaction to it had him slightly concerned.

_This is blackmail! Blackmail! _Kurumu yelled in her thoughts, panic taking over her mind. She quickly hid the photos from view by shoving them into the nearest thing: the tool box. _But what can I do!? _"I j-just remembered something I have to do," she told Ambrose, hoping her panic wasn't showing. The last thing she wanted was for him to know she'd posed for pictures like this. "See ya!" She ran out of the room, laughing awkwardly in a failing attempt to act normal, while the others watched her, confused by her behaviour.

The most concerned and confused out of the lot, however, was Ambrose. He watched Kurumu leave the room, noting her forced expression and hasty exit, and felt large amounts of worry well up in his stomach. He couldn't explain it; there were quite a few reasons it could have been, knowing her, but he just couldn't shake the feeling that there was something _very _wrong with the current situation.

What had been in that letter to make her act like this …?

~Freshman at Yokai~

The Monster Tree was a large, dead-looking thing just on the edge of the forest. It was a huge, rotting oak tree with two head-sized holes a little way above a much larger hole, creating the appearance of a monstrous face; all of the leaves on the Monster Tree seemed to have died long ago.

Kurumu approached this tree with much trepidation. What did this 'Nagare' want? Just from looking at the photos he had, she could tell his intentions were less than noble. But what else could she do? She couldn't let anyone at the club see that she had posed for those, least of all Ambrose. Meeting this guy's demands seemed like the only option she had. "H-Hello …?" she called out as she finally got right next to the Monster Tree.

"Ah … I've been waiting for you," called a voice from above her. Kurumu looked up and saw a boy sitting in the branches of of the tree. "I'm so pleased my letter found you. I've been waiting for a long time, Kurumu …"

"Wh-Who are you!?" Kurumu demanded, her face red with rage and embarrassment. "And how did you get those pictures of me!?" Her eyes widened as she remembered something rather stupid she'd just done. _Oh … I was in such a hurry I left them in the tool box! _Her thoughts turned panicked after she realised this, knowing that there was a rather large chance of the photographs being found by her club mates.

"Cute shots, weren't they?" Nagare asked. He'd just climbed down from the tree, huffing and puffing, giving Kurumu a better view of him. "They're my favourites." His words came out wheezy, the same as his constant tired breaths. He had shoulder-length, light brown hair that covered his right eye. Kurumu could not distinguish his eye colour because he kept his eyes closed. He was drenched in his own sweat, which was continually pouring from his skin at a rapid rate. He wore a sick, cheerful grin on his face. He wore the standard male uniform, minus the blazer, which was also wet with unnatural amounts of sweat.

_What's with this guy? _Kurumu asked herself. His constantly wheezing breaths and constantly sweating body were putting her even more off than she already was. _So sweaty and … ew … sticky! _

He stood up properly after regaining most of his breath, though it still came out heavily. "I'm Nagare Kano," he introduced himself to her, his smile widening as he did. "Don't you remember me? From when we started school here?"

"_Kurumu, you're so beautiful!" he had said, holding his camera around his neck. "May I take your picture?"_

"_Really!?" Kurumu had asked, feigning surprise and joy. She was used to this behaviour, having spent the last few days charming all the boys of the school. "You think so!? The best looking girl in school? Prettier than Moka Akashiya?" She held her hands together and forced a blush to take form on her face. Manipulating these fools was far too easy for her._

"_Oh, well … uh … you've got way bigger boobs!" Nagare had told her, struggling to find an area she beat Moka in other than her chest size. Not that he had any problem with that, of course._

_Kurumu had let off a fake giggle that would have been obvious to anyone that had a brain. "If you take nice pictures of me … I'll go out with you!" she had promised him. Needless to say, he had been quite enthusiastic about the opportunity._

"I'm sure you remember," Nagare said as the images of that day played through his mind.

_Not a thing…_Kurumu thought in her mind. She still had absolutely no idea who this guy was. _'Course, guys are always after me. And I used to be a bit competitive when it came to Moka … _She gulped as she realised that, while she didn't remember him, she may have made a _very _big mistake during her short-lived rivalry with Moka.

"I've been waiting ever since … seems like forever …" Nagare said as he leaned closer to her, causing her to take a step back. He opened his one visible eye, revealing a tiny pin-prick of a pupil and no colour around it. "And now you're going to keep your promise, Kurumu! If you don't … those pictures are gonna get scattered all over school!"

~Freshman at Yokai~

Ambrose was worried. Kurumu still hadn't come back, and club was getting pretty close to being finished for the day. There had been a pretty tense atmosphere in the room ever since she'd left; they were all wondering why she'd left the room so suddenly, and appeared so nervous. Ambrose couldn't help the tugging feeling in his chest telling him that something was wrong, even if he didn't want to believe anything was happening. He didn't know if it was his feelings showing through or what, but he was more worried about Kurumu's sudden leave than he ever had about any other member of the club.

"… Kurumu hasn't come back," Tsukune said, stating the obvious in an attempt to start up some kind of conversation and rid the room of the awkward atmosphere.

"Deadline ditchers are the scum of the Earth!" Yukari declared strongly. Her smile just wouldn't leave her face no matter what she was talking about.

"Th-That's h-harsh," Riku replied to her. He wasn't too fond of the fact that Kurumu had basically left all the work to them, that was true, but he was confident that she'd left for a good reason. He didn't say any of this out loud, however, because it would take too long for him to say it with his stutter.

"Hey …" Moka got their attentions. She had a slightly forlorn expression on her face. "How committed to you think Kurumu is to the club, really?" She didn't want to think about it. Not at all. Kurumu was her best friend, but she just couldn't stop these thoughts entering her head after Kurumu had left. "I mean, she only joined because she's after Ambrose, right? She used to hate me." She sounded extremely saddened as the next words exited her mouth. "I don't think she considers us friends. I mean—"

"Don't. Even. Go there," Ambrose said seriously, a dangerous glint in his eyes had grown as Moka spoke. "How could you even think we're not her friends? I think she's been the most friendly to you of anyone other than Tsukune. Sure, there was the incident when we first met her, but I though we'd gotten over that. Or was that just me?" Moka looked down, ashamed, at his words. "If she's been gone this long then I'm willing to bet there's a damn good reason for it. So let's just wait to see what she says, yeah?" Moka nodded in agreement with him, still looking down in shame at what she'd though. "Oh come on, you're acting like I've just killed your favourite puppy or something. I'm just saying that we should wait to hear what she says before jumping to conclusions."

"… Okay," Moka said. Ambrose nodded to her and looked down to continue his work.

"That was kinda harsh, don't you think?" Tsukune asked him. There was a slightly angry look in his eyes as he spoke to Ambrose. He didn't like the tone Ambrose had taken in talking to Moka just then, and his protective instincts flared a little. "I get what you're trying to say, but did you have to be such an asshole about it?"

"… Sorry," Ambrose said to him, genuinely meaning it. "It's just … I'm feeling really stressed out about this whole thing. I may say we should wait for an explanation, but Kurumu looked a little too nervous when she left, didn't she?" His worry managed to slip into his normally serious tone of voice. "You don't think she's in some kind of trouble, do you?"

"No," Tsukune tried to reassure him, his anger fading as a knowing smile worked its way onto his face. He just _knew _Ambrose felt the same way about Kurumu as she felt about him. "You were probably right when you spoke to Moka. There's gotta be a good reason for why she left."

"Thanks," Ambrose thanked him, smiling. He was glad that his friend was trying to make him feel better. He felt a hand on his shoulder, turned and saw Riku smiling at him as well. Ambrose smiled back, glad to have friends like this. But, despite their reassurances, he just couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong with this whole situation.

… And Kurumu was slap-bang in the middle of it.

~Freshman at Yokai~

"W-wait … what's up with this?" Kurumu asked Nagare, confusion, nervousness and more than a little fear entering her mind as she finished changing for their 'date.' "How come I have to wear gym clothes on our date? And why clothes from another school!?" She'd rather she wasn't doing this at all. But, while going on any kind of date, even a forced one, with Nagare made her feel repulsive, she _had _to do it if she wanted to make sure those photos were kept out of the limelight. The gym clothes he was forcing her to wear, however, made her reluctance to go through with the whole thing sky rocket. It consisted of a very loose-fitting, white gym shirt, black shorts so short they looked more like panties, and some long, white socks and trainers.

Nagare had a huge, perverted grin on his face as he answered her, "This is what's called 'pin-up photography.'" He gave off a laugh which was distorted slightly by his wheezing breaths. "Mmm, those shorts look so great on you, Kurumu." In her shock, Kurumu went rigid, and barely reacted when Nagare started taking pictures from multiple angles. "That's it! Perfect! Turn this way!"

"I DIDN'T AGREE TO THIS!" Kurumu shouted when she finally snapped out of her shock-induced daze. Now she was panicked, angry and embarrassed. She wanted to get out of this, away from this completely perverted creep. "PUT THAT CAMERA DOWN!"

Nagare's expression soured a little, though remained as enthusiastic-looking as ever. He tutted at Kurumu's attitude to the situation, before saying, "You better watch what you say." Kurumu gulped at his tone. Nagare's eyes took on a glint through his hair that made her even more nervous. "I have a special talent that lets me learn a girl's secrets. I know a lot of _your _secrets, Kurumu. Like …" And that's when he began to whisper to her. With every single word that left his mouth Kurumu's fear became ever more evident on her face.

"You fucking _pervert!" _exclaimed Kurumu, who was now even more afraid of how he had known such personal things about her. Her shouting just made Nagare smirk, turn away from her and laugh.

"Maybe I should tell those things to your Ambrose …" said Nagare, his tone casual as if he was talking about telling someone the score of a football game. His soft chuckles would have unnerved anyone who heard them.

"Y-y-you know about Ambrose, too!?" Kurumu said with a stutter. _Now _she was panicking. "Don't … not Ambrose …"

"Then put on this costume!" Nagare ordered her, pulling out an outfit from a spot behind the Monster Tree, grinning perversely as he did so. The costume itself caused Kurumu's sense of horror to increase to its maximum.

"_A maid's uniform?" _she said in terror. It was a rather skimpy one, too.

Kurumu felt dirty, disgusting, even _violated _over the next couple of hours. Nagare took so many photos of her in the maid uniform that she lost count, and then proceeded to make her try on many different costumes, all chosen specifically to fulfil some sick, twisted fantasy. _This is bad, _Kurumu thought as she put on the fourth costume. _This guy's getting carried away … maybe I can use my Succubus powers to make him obey me and … no, I can't. Ever since I got to know Ambrose … I just can't bare to perform evil deeds any more! What am I going to do …? While I'm here, the rest of the gang is in an awful time crunch …_

The moon was out, banana-shaped and bright in the sky, by the time Nagare let Kurumu leave. _Free at last, _she thought as she finished pulling on her usual attire. _Twelve costume changes later. _She felt humiliated about what had happened on this day, but took comfort in the fact that it was all over and done with. With her clothes as they usually are, she made her way to the club room. When she reached the door she thought, _I wonder if they're still working …? _and got her answer the moment she entered.

When she entered, her paranoia about how they'd reacted to her leaving made her see nothing but anger in their faces, when they were actually all just dead-tired.

"Oh good, you're back," said Ambrose as everyone saw her enter the room. "I was starting to get worried." This only made Kurumu feel guilty for leaving them with so much work, and for worrying Ambrose, too.

"But we just decided to call it a day," Tsukune added in, which is when Kurumu noticed that they were all packing up the work. "We decided to finish up tomorrow."

"You may as well just go back to the dorm," Moka said, hand in hand with Tsukune as everyone began to leave. Eventually, with the sound of the doors closing, Kurumu found herself alone in the club room of the Newspaper Club.

_I was too late, _she realised, filled with nothing but overwhelming guilt that they'd had to do that much work without her … probably more than she'd realised, now that she thought about it, since somebody had to take on her workload, too. She looked on one of the tables, down at all the work that had been done, and began thinking deeply. _I used to be so conceited … using my Succubus powers to turn guys into slaves. _She sat down at the desk so that she could continue her reflection in relative comfort. _But even though the pampered me like a princess, I never made a single friend. Now that I know better … I'm paying the price! _"I've got to apologise," she said to herself, real regret in her voice at how she'd left the entire club hanging.

… Then a soft chuckling rang out behind her. "What's wrong, Kurumu?" said the highly unwelcome voice of Nagare. Kurumu turned to face him with a panicked gasp. She noticed that he was still holding that damn camera. "Today was fun, wasn't it? Let's play again tomorrow, hmmm?"

"N-Nagare!? What are you doing in here!?" Kurumu yelped in both shock and pure anger. "I only promised you one date! I don't owe you any more!" All she wanted now was for this creep to leave her alone.

Nagare tutted at her words. "Don't be so cold. Want me to show Ambrose the pictures we took today?" he asked her, smirking over his camera.

"_What!?_" Kurumu yelled. "No! You can't! You promised no one would see those!"

"They won't … if you play with me again tomorrow," Nagare assured her. His smile was so unnaturally large that Kurumu could see all of his rotting, yellow teeth. "I'm never letting you go now."

Despite the fear she felt at that moment, Kurumu remained defiant. She would _not _leave the rest of the club to do all of the work for a second day in a row. And she certainly wasn't going to give into any of this sick bastard's demands! "Quit following me around!" she yelled at him as she stormed out of the room, leaving him alone in the club room.

Nagare frowned as he looked around the room, trying to think of some way he could make sure she would come back to him the following day. That's when he noticed the workload on the desk in the middle of the room. "What's this?" he asked himself as his smile became more apparent on his face. He picked up a sheet of paper and looked over it, his smile widening all the time. "A newspaper … all laid out …" His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening and closing again. He turned to look at who had entered, and saw that it was only the annoying, stutter kid. "Oh, piss off and leave me be you wimp," he ordered Riku.

Riku did not obey.

In what appeared to be a few seconds, Riku had grown fur, a snout, fangs and claws. The form of a Werewolf stood before Nagare, and he started panicking. The Werewolf Riku let out a roar at Nagare, who dropped the newspaper and ran, as fast as he could, out of the room.

Riku quickly transformed back to normal. He was happy that Nagare hadn't decided to fight, seeing as he was only able to take on the appearance of a Monster, and not their powers or strength. The intimidation factor was all he could rely on when confronted with an unknown Monster and, luckily, it had worked on the one trying to steal their hard work.

Seeing as he had dealt with the issue, Riku picked up his bag, which was what he was there to retrieve in the first place, and left for the boys' dorm, quite sure that he'd scared the sweaty guy enough so that he wouldn't come back any time soon.

~Freshman at Yokai~

"Morning, everyone," Ambrose said as he entered into the club room of the Newspaper Club. "I can assume we all agree that ritual suicide is an option if we don't finish by the end of today?" He turned to look at the rest of them. It would appear he was later than he thought (hunting breakfast can do that) and Riku had just finished explaining something. "What's up?"

"S-Some f-f-fucker t-tried to st-steal our w-work th-the o-other night," Riku explained to him. "It w-was s-some sw-sw-sweaty guy. B-But I sc-scared him o-off."

While Ambrose was slightly confused at how Riku of all people could be scary, he didn't feel it was polite to ask even with his known sarcastic streak. "Well played," he complimented Riku. That was when he noticed that Kurumu had an extremely troubled look on her face. "Hey, Kurumu, you all right?" It occurred to him that he should have noticed something was the matter when she didn't instantly try to suffocate him with her bosom.

"Y-yeah," she told him, though he could tell from the slight stutter that she was lying. "Don't worry about it. Let's just get this paper finished!" The determination in her voice, though, was very real indeed.

"Okay," Ambrose said just before Gin started getting everybody to work. Ambrose ended up working right next to Kurumu, his concern for her overwhelming his usual liking of his own workspace. "You know," he said to Kurumu, "if something's wrong, you can tell me, right? I don't care what it is, I'll listen to anything you have to say."

"… Yeah, I know," Kurumu told him after a moment. She smiled lightly at him. "I'm fine, really. I'm just thinking about what would have happened if that guy had got the paper, is all."

"If you say so," said Ambrose. He then did something that surprised her. He hugged her. _Ambrose Holt _initiated a hug, rather than just hugging back when she did so. After a moment, Kurumu hugged back. It was a hug filled with affection, the feelings each of them had were flowing between their bodies. Neither of them cared where they were. They were simply lost in each other's company.

"Come on, guys!" Gin exclaimed from his desk as he noticed the two at the back of the room. "We'll have time for all that touchy-feely crap later. Right now, we seriously need to get a god damned move on!"

"You know, I think we might actually pull this off," Tsukune said to everyone. There was a knowing smile on his face as he took glances at Ambrose and Kurumu.

"Tsukune, please," Ambrose said. "How could you ever have doubted it? Are you forgetting how absolutely amazing we are?" It wasn't often that Ambrose cracked a genuine smile rather than a smirk, but there was one plastered all over his face now.

"I guess you have a point there," Tsukune admitted, smiling along with Ambrose. The room was abuzz with work for the rest of the day. The friends sat, worked, joked and, to Kurumu's immense relief, none of them needed to look inside the tool box for extra equipment. It was a very productive day, and Kurumu worked extra hard to make up for the work she had missed out on the day before. It looked like everything was going back to normal.

But Kurumu still had one thing to do.

"Okay, guys, looking at the amount we're getting done, I think we can actually afford to go on a lunch break today," Gin told them, much to everyone's joy. Everyone began to file out of the room, but Kurumu stayed put. Before leaving, Ambrose turned around and asked, "You coming, Kurumu?"

"I'll be there in a minute," she told him. "I just need to get something finished up here. Wait for me outside, okay?" Ambrose nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him. Now that she was alone, Kurumu went over to the tool box, retrieved the letter and photographs from it, and tore them to pieces, releasing her claws in order to shred them for good measure. She smiled in contentment before retracting her claws and leaving the room, walking arm in arm with Ambrose, who had been waiting just outside.

It was okay now. Everything could go back to normal.

~Freshman at Yokai~

Nagare was, to put it simply, pissed off. He had felt so certain that, even though his plan to lure her out with the newspaper had failed, the knowledge that he still possessed provocative photos of her would have drawn Kurumu into returning to him. But as he stood, watching the Newspaper Club as they headed to lunch, he realised that this was not the reality of the situation.

Kurumu wasn't with the rest of the club. At least not yet. A couple of minutes after the others had left, he noticed her walking out of the building after them, arm in arm with Ambrose Holt.

_You bastard, _Nagare thought, his teeth grinding together in his rage. _She's supposed to be _mine! _Mine to play with. Mine to show off. Mine to do whatever the fuck I want with! _Nagare found himself thinking on the unfairness of the situation. Kurumu had promised to go out with him long before she'd met Ambrose, yet it was he who she spent all of her time with, he who she appeared to love. Nagare's mind was filled with pure, unadulterated malice as one thought filled his mind.

_It's all your fault …_

And that was it. With that one thought planted squarely in his mind, Nagare's new plan of action began to take form. In order to make Kurumu his, all he would have to do was get Ambrose out of the picture. Nagare's mouth formed the same sick, twisted grin Kurumu had come to despise over the day she'd spent with him. His plan was simple and, in his irrationally twisted mind, completely unable to fail.

He was going to kill Ambrose Holt.

~Freshman at Yokai~

Ambrose was in a good mood. Whatever Kurumu had done in the club room while he waited had lifted her spirits immensely; it seemed that she was no longer worrying about whatever had been bothering her. This made Ambrose happy in a way he thought no other person's happiness could ever affect him. He'd thought long and hard about what he felt for Kurumu, and the answer was becoming more and more clear with each passing second.

They walked in silence. Their good moods were bouncing off one another onto one another, putting their minds and feelings in complete harmony with each other. Ambrose was still concerned about what had made Kurumu act the way she had the day before, make no mistake, but he felt certain that she would tell him when she thought he should know.

"Ambrose Holt," said an unfamiliar voice from somewhere within the trees surrounding the school. Well, unfamiliar to Ambrose at least. Kurumu had noticeably tensed beside him. "Forgive me for not showing my face, but this conversation is very likely to upset you. I just didn't want to be in your way when you inevitably … snap at me." Ambrose already decided that he didn't like this person, whoever he was, for the concealment meant only one thing: trouble.

"Okay, I'll just stand here and talk to the air then," Ambrose said. He was never one to play by the rules of others – unless they were his friends, of course – so whoever this was was going to have to try harder. "Yeah … not happening. I'm just gonna take Kurumu to lunch. Unless you want to show yourself …" He began to walk away. He took note that Kurumu's expression turned to one of hope when no movements were seen anywhere around them. Until …

"Okay then," said the voice. "We'll do it your way." Out of the trees to their left stepped Nagare, sweaty as he had ever been. "Just don't blame _me _when this starts to get ugly." He released a strange little laugh. Ambrose could tell from both the grin and the demeanour of this guy that he was some form of psychotic. "Now, can we chat?"

"Ambrose, please—" Kurumu was cut off when Ambrose gave her a pat on the arm, trying to tell her it was going to be fine. He wasn't blind to her discomfort at the situation, and he figured that Nagare himself played a large part in that. The only logical conclusion was that he had done something to Kurumu, and Ambrose didn't like that. Not at all.

"I suppose so," Ambrose said with a nod. "Though it'll have to be quick. Our friends are waiting for us, you see, and I don't want to keep them waiting just because a conversation got a little bit messy." His eyes had a dangerous glint in them that Nagare caught. Good. That meant his plan was working.

"Oh, I completely understand," Nagare said to him with an apparently friendly smile. He began to approach Ambrose and Kurumu, his hands held out in front of him. "I would just like to explain to you why Kurumu here was absent from your little club yesterday." Kurumu tensed, not wanting him to continue. "She was with me, you see, and I may have kept her a little distracted from her job. Just a little. I only needed her for a little … let's call it an art project, okay? And since I kept for much longer than I'd intended to, I figured you may as well take a look at the results." He pulled a small pile of square paper from his shirt pocket and held them out for Ambrose to take. He did.

Ambrose looked over the photographs and his rage build. This guy … was a perverted, controlling, manipulative bastard, and Ambrose wanted to make him pay for it. And he would, he knew that already. Just like he knew Nagare was goading him into attacking first in order to pass off his injuries – or death – as self-defence. As much as Ambrose wanted to beat Nagare to a pulp right now, he refused to allow Nagare's plan to work. Luckily, though, he knew that a guy like Nagare had a short fuse. It was simply a matter of setting it off.

"Looks good," Ambrose said with a shrug, pocketing the photographs so that Nagare couldn't use them against Kurumu after all of this was over. He gave Kurumu a discreet wink when she looked at him in confusion. "Well, _she _looks good; your photography skills are kind of shitty." He saw Nagare's body tense. "And … sorry, what's that smell? Is that you by any chance? Jesus, man, take a fucking shower once in a while." Nagare was shaking and looked ready to punch him. "Still, nice attempt at photography. I'll contact you in the future if I need to insult anyone by giving them a crappy portrait." He started to walk away, Kurumu still with him. And then he knew his plan had worked.

Ambrose launched to the side, grabbing Kurumu and taking her down with him as a strange smell filled the air. Looking back up, Ambrose saw a confused look on Nagare's face. The funny smell appeared again, and Ambrose dodged with Kurumu again. Three times this process repeated itself before Nagare finally snapped.

"How are you fucking _doing _that!?" he yelled at them, his breath wheezing even more than usual.

"Do you know what kind of Monster I am, Nagare?" Ambrose asked him. Nagare looked at him, confused. "I'm a Wendigo. Do you know what Wendigos are known for? Hunting. Do you know what hunting requires? A damn good sense of smell. That paralysing gas you're producing may take any other Monster by surprise, but I can smell that shit _as_ you're fucking producing it." His skin ripped, his head reshaped and sprouted antlers, his hands grew claws. "Now, are we going to stand here all day … or are we going to fight?"

Nagare clenched his fists and ground his teeth together. "Fine," he spat, "have it your way." He began to sweat even more … no, not sweating. His skin was _melting _into some sort of gooey substance. His eyes bulged, his legs combined together as if they were drops of water, his body expanded into a mass of fat and ooze. The form of the Slug Monster*** **stood in front of Ambrose and Kurumu, looking menacing and smelling disgusting. "You're really fucked now, Holt!"

Kurumu stood there, more than a little shell-shocked at just how quickly this had escalated. Her original intention was to forget about Nagare completely after tearing up the pictures he'd printed of her. So what if the pictures they'd taken the other day got out, she'd thought, she'd done a lot of stupid things earlier in the year, it wouldn't have been news to anyone. The only reason she'd bothered tearing up the letter and the pictures with it was so that no one would find out about her meeting with Nagare the day before; she didn't want to cause any trouble for anyone else at the club. But now, it would seem, the cat was out of the bag. Ambrose was about to fight Nagare, and she'd be damned if she would be left out of it. It was her he was after, anyway, and it would be more than a little selfish to have Ambrose fight completely on his own.

"Don't forget about me!" Kurumu yelled, the back of her clothes tearing to release her wings, her tail emerging from her skirt, her nails sharpening into claws. She hovered in the air, her wings flapping to keep her from falling. She directed a look of pure hatred at Nagare, before saying, "You forced me to abandon my friends in their time of need, you tried to steal all of their hard work, and then you had the nerve to try and make me look like a slut in front of the person I love! Don't think I'm just gonna sit here and watch you two fight! We're going to tear you apart, Nagare … and we're gonna do it together."

"Well said, Kurumu," Ambrose said, his voice softer as he addressed her. The warm feeling rose up in his chest again, and his emotions reached a peak. He knew from that moment on that he loved her, and he felt stupid that he had to think about it as long as he did. But that wasn't important now: what was important was making sure Nagare paid for what he had done. "So, you ready to give up yet? Or is your brain as slippery as the rest of you?" he asked Nagare, further enraging the hulking mass of slime.

Ambrose was the first to move on the offensive. He charged at Nagare, the claws on his decayed hands brandished and ready to strike. Before he could do any damage, however, Nagare's entire form melted away and he was nothing but a puddle on the ground, sliding away from the place he had once stood. He reformed himself when he had put a good distance between himself and Ambrose. It was with great shock that he felt a large amount of cutting pain through his back. He recoiled at the feeling, turning his head to face his attacker. Kurumu was stood behind him, her claws dripping with his blood and slime. If it weren't for the fact that she was in the middle of a fight, she'd have taken a moment to complain about how disgusting it was.

"Kurumu, move!" yelled Ambrose, and Kurumu flew high out of the way, knowing what he meant instantly. Nagare's invisible gas passed her by and was swept away by the light breeze. Ambrose then took advantage of Nagare's distraction by running up close to him, slashing and biting away. His deer-like mouth was now dripping with blood and the ooze that made up Nagare's skin. He then spat it out in disgust. "You taste fucking awful!" he exclaimed in revulsion.

"You two …" growled Nagare as slime slid over his wounds, making them look non-existent, "… are really … pissing me off!" He no longer cared about having Kurumu. There were plenty other girls around the school – a lot of which were much more susceptible than her – so there was no real reason to leave her alive. She had not only refused to play his game, but now she was actively helping to attack him. He was going to kill them both … and he was going to _enjoy _it.

Nagare melted himself into a puddle once more, and slid along the floor all around them. To the two he was fighting, he almost looked like he was trying to get behind them. After a few seconds Ambrose decided that he wasn't going to give Nagare the chance to go through with whatever he was planning, and he charged his thin, liquid form, claws arching downwards to slash at the moving pool of goo. When he got close enough to strike, however, Nagare's form once again solidified, shooting upwards, hitting Ambrose and knocking him off his feet. With a sickening laugh, Nagare took advantage of Ambrose's temporary incapacitation by releasing as much of his paralysing gas as he could muster, shooting it in the direction of the floored Wendigo.

Unfortunately, Ambrose couldn't get up quick enough. The gas hit him, and he ended up inhaling it whilst trying to get to his feet. He was completely unable to move.

Nagare started laughing maniacally. "This is fantastic!" he exclaimed. "You may think you're smart, wise-ass, but you walked _right _into that one! Now I'm gonna kill you. I'm gonna fucking _eat _you! And I bet you're going to taste delicious!" He turned back and looked at Kurumu with a sickening smirk. "Me and you'll play in a minute … right after you've watched your boyfriend die!" He made his way towards where Ambrose stood, paralysed and terrified, with a quickness that seemed unnatural for any kind of slug.

In the next few seconds three things passed through Kurumu's head. The first was surprise that, after effectively rendering Nagare's main method of attack useless, Ambrose had been taken out by the gas. The second was horror because of the fact that Ambrose was about to die, and she would be forced to watch as it happened. The third and final thing to run through her head, however, was a rage worse than anything she had ever felt before. Nagare had already humiliated her with the photo shoot the day before, and now he was about to kill Ambrose. The shear amount of ways this scum bag had wronged her in the last two days angered her worse than anything else ever could. She was _not _going to let him take away the person she loved. She was _not _just going to sit back and watch!

As Nagare reached within a few feet of Ambrose, the ground began to shake. "Huh … what?" he said. "What is that rumbling?"

"Stop it," Kurumu said … no, _demanded. _Nagare turned to look at her and saw that she was looking towards the ground and her whole body was shaking. "Don't. Touch. Ambrose!" She looked up at Nagare, and his initial confusion was replaced by fear. Kurumu's eyes were glowing a bright, blinding pink. And she looked more pissed off than he'd ever seen anyone in his life. There was a sound of crumbling, and Nagare looked around to see the roots of trees ripping themselves from the ground and moving around in the air like large snakes made of bark. Then they started darting towards Nagare, whacking him all over at every opportunity. "What's going on!? Why are the trees attacking me!?"

"**You're scum, Nagare!" **Kurumu shouted in a distorted, demon-like voice. Her face was full of rage and power. Nagare was clearly terrified of her now. The living tree roots gathered around Kurumu like servants of some sort, snaking around and awaiting their orders. **"You won't get any mercy from me for the things you've done!" **One of the trees, a particularly large one, formed a hole in its trunk that had huge fangs. The tendril-like roots began to snake their way towards Nagare, making efforts to grab him, but he had decided he wasn't going to stick around. Nagare, still in his Monster form, fled from the scene as fast as he could.

Ambrose watched with fascination as the roots and extra horrific features of the trees simply began to vanish. It was then that he remembered that the Succubi were said to possess the ability of illusion: they were able to create horrific things in the minds of those around them by using their mind powers. The extra-powerful Succubi, he recalled, were rumoured to be able to inflict physical injuries using these illusions. Any injuries they had caused Nagare, however, were simply illusions.

Kurumu sat panting on the ground, as the gas that held Ambrose still wore off. He walked over to her and sat next to her, placing his arm around her shoulder as he did so. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked her. "About what Nagare made you do. You know the rest of us could have helped, right?"

"… I guess I just didn't want to cause any trouble by bringing you guys into my problems," she answered him. She blushed in embarrassment as she did so; it all seemed so stupid to her now. "You were all so busy … I just didn't want to stress you or the others out any more than you already were."

"Oh, Kurumu," Ambrose said. To her surprise, her started to tenderly stroke her face. She liked it; it felt … comforting. "Helping you could never be a bother." He paused for a moment, thinking, before just coming out with what he wanted to tell her. "Because I love you."

Kurumu looked up at him in surprise. She knew he felt the same as she did – his declaration that she was his girlfriend proved that much – but she hadn't expected him to come out with it this soon. He always seemed so closed off, determined to hid his emotions from people. She'd always suspected that he had something hidden behind his sarcastic exterior, something he didn't want anyone to see. So, to her, this confession came as an unexpected, yet still pleasant, surprise. "I love you, too," she told him. She let out a small laugh. "But you already knew that."

Ambrose gave a small chuckle, a small, genuine smile on his face. "Yeah, I do." And then he kissed her. It was a simple, chaste kiss, with no heat whatsoever. Yet there was so much love and feeling in it that neither of them took any notice of the world around them. It was just the two of them, sharing their love for one another. In that moment nothing else in the world was real.

Eventually the others in the club came back to look for them, thinking they'd been gone for too long, and happened upon the scene. They saw the tell-tale signs of the fight, but did not ask about it. They never even spoke to the two of them. They decided to let them have their moment in peace.

~Freshman at Yokai~

Ambrose sat in his room that night, thinking on the events of the day. A sense of overwhelming amusement took him over at the thought of Nagare fleeing the scene of their fight. It occurred to him that Nagare had probably been scared straight by the entire incident.

Then his thoughts turned to Kurumu. Was it wise to tell her how he felt? His heart said yes, but his mind wasn't so sure. He had made a conscious effort to hide most of his emotions from the people he'd met here, and now he'd openly admitted his love for Kurumu. How long before everything he'd been trying to hide came spilling out of him? He was happy, make no mistake about that, but he was also a little bit hesitant.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knocking sound … that came from his window. He grew curious and went over to said window. He opened the curtains and, flying outside of the glass, he saw Kurumu. A small smile graced his lips as he opened the window and allowed her to climb inside. "That's against the rules, you know?" he asked with a smirk as she looked around his room.

"Yeah, but is it against the rules to want to spend time with your boyfriend?" she shot right back.

"You spend plenty of time with me already," he pointed out as he took a step towards her.

"That's not really what I had in mind," she said as she, too, stepped forwards and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Well, what _did _you have in mind, Ms. Kurono?" Ambrose asked with a smirk. He was bringing his face slowly closer to hers.

"I think you know that, Mr. Holt," she told him. She then brought her mouth right next to his ear and whispered, "But I think I'll show you anyway." And with that she backed up and lunged at him, crashing her lips against his in a much more passionate kiss that the one they'd shared earlier.

Their lips mashed together fiercely, heat spreading to both of the teens involved. Kurumu had her hands on either side of Ambrose's head, and he had his hands on her hips. Kurumu then began to trail her hands down Ambrose's toned body, feeling it through his uniform. She wasted no time in pushing his jacket off him. Ambrose's hands were exploring her body, too, trailing up and down her sides, taking brief squeezes of her ass when they got low enough. Kurumu managed to push Ambrose backwards, onto his bed and their kissing became even more heated.

Ambrose felt the moist sensation of Kurumu's tongue prodding his lips, asking permission to enter. He granted it happily, opening his lips just enough for her to shove her tongue into his mouth, where both of their tongues began to fight for dominance. They broke their kissing for a brief moment as Kurumu pulled Ambrose's shirt off, exposing his muscular chest to her. She licked her lips hungrily, before going down and planting kisses all along his abs. Ambrose groaned in pleasure at the feeling and pulled Kurumu back up again, smashing his lips against hers and shoving his tongue into her mouth.

Ambrose grabbed at the shirt and vest that she wore and, breaking the kiss, pulled both of them off in one quick motion, exposing Kurumu's lacy, black bra to him. His conscious thoughts shutting down, he grabbed at her breasts, kneading and groping them, causing the Succubus on top of him to moan in pleasure. Seeing his lover's reaction, Ambrose smirked and sat up, placing kisses and nibbles all along Kurumu's neck. Her moans were slowly getting louder and Ambrose wouldn't have been surprised if the guys in the neighbouring rooms heard them. But he didn't care. He held onto Kurumu's ear with his teeth for a few seconds, growling a little. Then they resumed kissing, tongues fighting for dominance. They felt each other up, Kurumu's hands going down to rub Ambrose's groin through his trousers, causing him to moan into her mouth, making her smirk.

After a few hours of this, the two of them simply lay in bed together. They held each other, sharing the sweat they had gained during their heated make-out session. Both had content smiles on their faces.

"I love you, Kurumu," Ambrose said once again. He felt something that he hadn't truly felt in what felt like a long time: happiness.

"I love you, too, Ambrose," Kurumu said. They gave each other one last, tender kiss before settling down and going to sleep.

* * *

**Well, how was that? I've been waiting to take Ambrose and Kurumu's relationship up to this level since I started the story. This is actually the first time I've written a scene like that, so tell me what you think of it.**

**I'd like to take a quick moment to apologise for the incredibly long wait I've put you through. I had intended to get it out a tad earlier than this, but I've been spending time with my niece who I have been visiting. Sorry for the delay, and I hope you can forgive me.**

**The Security Committee arc starts next chapter, so look forward to that. Those of you who read my other stories, rest assured that I am going to be writing my fucking balls off over the next few weeks to give you all the updates that you deserve. This has been Anime PJ, damn happy to be back.**

***Bite Size Monster Encyclopedia**

**Slug Monster: Loves dank, dark places. Takes pleasure in terrifying humans who wander through swamps. Eats rotting organic matter, creating poison gas within its body.**

**Next Chapter: Enter: The Protection Committee and the Spider Woman**


	8. Chapter 8

**Well here we are again, folks! Merry Christmas! Hope you're having a great day! I had hoped to release a chapter for all my stories today, but due to some issues with my health I have been unable to complete my goal, so I've only got a few finished. I hope you don't mind. And this chapter marks the first story arc that isn't just a random assortment of fights and situations. I welcome you all to the start of the Protection Committee Arc.**

**GreenDo: Yes, I did indeed wave a slab of meat in front of the flamers with the ending of the last chapter. I don't need to worry about the story being too short, because I'm using the manga and it lasts a hell of a lot longer than the anime, let me tell you that. That last comment of yours sounds super perverted ... but, then again, I did put the scene in, so I can't really complain.**

**WinLik3aBosS: Thank you. Of course I kept my promise, what kind of person would I be if I didn't? I'm excited to start _writing _Riku/Mizore, I've been anticipating it since I started rewriting this thing. Though by following the manga's timeline I've sort of doomed it to not happen for a while ...**

**deltafrost: Of course I'm going to do a lemon scene, that's kind of a given, I'm just not doing one _yet. _Lemons at the wrong time can kill the pacing of a story. I already know _when _I'm doing it, and I will tell you that it's not that far away. Thank you for offering to write it for me, though, that was a kind gesture.**

**victoria cullen33: Thank you once again for all the compliments. Here's the new chapter and I hope you enjoy.**

**mastermind: I don't think I'll insert the Thing into this story ... but that isn't to say I won't put it in a sequel. I've been wanting to make this a trilogy, but have been unable to since the manga only covers two of their three years at Yokai Academy. I've been getting a pretty decent idea for a third installment, so I just might do that.**

**some guy: I agree. The manga is not only a lot less fan-service, but it also goes into greater detail and has a lot more story arcs than the anime. If I didn't change a few things here and there, there wouldn't be that much point to the story, would there? Like we saw last chapter, Riku taking that tiny action of stopping Nagare from stealing the newspaper ended up altering the entire course of events.**

**Guest: The profile picture you're referring to is based on RWBY. In case you haven't watched it, the Grimm my profile pic mentions are the monsters in that series.**

**Kamen rider w: Thank you, and I shall certainly try to.**

**Guest: Thank you. Don't worry, I don't expect everyone on the site to speak perfect English. It is a worldwide site, after all.**

**Darktrooper5: Don't worry, the lemon is coming pretty quickly, but I thought that having it last chapter would be a little too soon. As tempting as it is to bring Mizore in earlier than she's supposed to ... I can't bring myself to do it; there are certain pieces of character development I need to get in for Riku before she turns up. I do have some combat training in mind for Riku (and Ambrose, too, as it happens) and sneak attacks are a part of it, but there are other aspects, too. The two of them will definitely be getting better at fighting, though, you can count on that; Tsukune, too, as it happens. Thank you very much and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.**

**xQEAx: Thank you very much; it's nice to see that I'm having that sort of effect on somebody. I hope you continue to enjoy the rest of the story as much as you have so far.**

**Guest: Right here! Merry Christmas!**

**With all that out of the way, let the chapter commence! And merry Christmas once again!**

* * *

Enter: The Protection Committee Part One – The Spider Woman

A shirtless Ambrose's eyes shifted awake, his eyes opening slowly as the sunlight hit them through a gap in the curtains on this weekend morning. Normally waking up was an unpleasant experience for him, but as of late it had become one he looked forwards to immensely. A smile grew on his face as he felt the other form stir against him. He looked down at the face of the awakening Succubus in her black lacy bra, and decided to give her a hand in waking up. He leaned down, lifted her chin a little, and placed a light kiss on her lips. He knew she had awoken fully when a smile formed on her face. The kiss lasted a few seconds more before Ambrose broke it.

"Good morning, my lovely Kurumu," he said. He felt the same warmth in his chest as he did every time he saw her. "How are you on this fine morning?"

"All the better from the nice wake-up call," Kurumu said in response. There was that loving smile on her face, that smile that Ambrose loved so much. And that smile which was quickly transforming into a smirk. "Though I think it could do with some _improvement._"

Before Ambrose could respond, she lunged her head forwards and ravenously captured his lips with her own.

It had only been a week since they had begun this little routine, but Ambrose was already used to these kinds of mornings. He grinned into the kiss and returned it with enthusiasm, bringing his tongue into play quickly thereafter. Kurumu moaned into the kiss, her cheeks flushing red. Ambrose had learned pretty quickly that, despite Kurumu's nature as a Succubus, she quite enjoyed it when he tried to take charge … though that didn't mean she gave in easily.

Bringing her hands to the back of her lover's head, Kurumu pulled him down further, shoving his tongue out of the way with her own as they began an epic battle for dominance. Ambrose growled and had his tongue fight back with as much force as Kurumu was using. The two tongues fought and their owners moaned and groaned in pleasure. Kurumu wrapped her legs around Ambrose's midsection and began grinding upwards, leading to a gasp from him. It was only a short amount of time until she felt a little something poking her.

"Why, Ambrose, so soon?" she asked him, breaking the kiss and smirking. "I'm just getting _started …_"

"As am I, my dear," Ambrose said. He grinned down at her, a fire flowing in both of their eyes. "As am I."

Their kiss resumed. Kurumu was grinding away as hard as she could, while Ambrose brought a hand up to one of her bra-clad breasts and gave it a good squeeze. Kurumu moaned and tightened the grip of her legs around Ambrose's waist, before continuing to kiss him even more aggressively than before. Ambrose subconsciously began grinding, too, and the two of them moaned loudly into each other's mouths. Ambrose was, for what felt like the millionth time, glad that the rooms were soundproof (as he'd found out shortly after their first 'session').

Kurumu's hands trailed along Ambrose's athletic body, while his hands groped and kneaded at her breasts. They were being anything but quiet, but the sounds they were making only served to get them more excited. They ground their groins against one another, making them gasp and groan in pleasure each time. There were a few more minutes of this before Ambrose took his lips away from Kurumu's, both of them panting as he did so, and gave a sigh of annoyance when he saw the clock up on his wall.

"And I think it would probably be wise to end it there for this morning," he said after a few seconds. Kurumu seemed to pout up at him. "Oh, don't give me that look. We may not have school today, but there's still work to do, and if we carry on I doubt if we'll ever find the will to stop in time. So, as enthusiastic as I am, I think it'd be best to stop here."

Kurumu sighed. "Fair enough," she said in a downbeat voice. A smirk adorned her face, however. She leaned up and gave him one last passionate kiss. "But we are definitely picking this back up tonight."

Ambrose grinned. "I wouldn't have it any other way." He looked at her panties and saw that they were near enough soaked through. That meant she'd have to go back to her own dorm room to get changed. "You go get cleaned up, I'll wait in the lobby."

~Freshman at Yokai~

The lobby was the only coed part of the dorms, being a place for all the students to interact when they weren't doing so on school time. It also had phones so that the students could contact their family members in the human world. As Ambrose walked into the lounge, fully dressed in a black jacket over a red t-shirt, along with deep blue tracksuit bottoms, he saw that Tsukune happened to be using one of said phones at that exact moment.

Not wanting to interrupt the call, Ambrose stood next to Tsukune and mouthed 'Good morning,' to which Tsukune gave a nod of his head. Tsukune was wearing a crudely-worn dress-shirt, a loose tie and some trousers. Ambrose could see that it was salvaged from his school uniform, which meant most of Tsukune's weekend clothes were probably in the wash.

"Hi, mom," Tsukune said into the phone, making Ambrose realise that he was only just starting his call. "It's me … calling from the dorm lobby. The money? Oh, yeah, I got it, like always. Thanks. I'm doing great here. Really, I'm fine. Don't worry, mom." He was laughing a little at the conversation he was having.

"You're sure?" his mother said from the other end of the phone. Ambrose could hear every word she was saying thanks to the advanced hearing of the Wendigo. "Well, if you say so … Just remember to wear your jacket, okay? Oh, and … would you like us to come see your school soon?" Ambrose's eyes widened, and Tsukune began visibly panicking, barely keeping still as he held the phone to his ear. "Your father and I were thinking we could visit over this next break …"

"_NO!_" Tsukune screamed down the phone, earning him much more attention than he needed. Not that he noticed at that point. "_Don't come! Don't come!_"

A chuckle escaped from Ambrose's mouth before he could stop it, earning him a glare from Tsukune, who was obviously taking the situation incredibly seriously.

"Ts-Tsukune …" Mrs Aono said in shock over the phone.

"I mean … you and dad must be really busy and everything," Tsukune said in an attempt to cover his tracks. "And … it's okay if you don't come!" _What would happen if they found out I'm in a school for Monsters!? _He yelled in his mind. "… seriously, I'm doing great. I've made friends—one of which is stood right here laughing his ass off—"

"Hello, Mrs Aono!" Ambrose called down the phone, stifling his chuckles as best he could.

"—and I'm on the staff of the school newspaper," Tsukune went on, ignoring Ambrose entirely. "Tomorrow we're handing out our newest issue in front of the school gates. I'm having way more fun here than at my other schools. Okay … uh-huh … okay … I'll call again soon." He put the phone back on its stand, then turned to Ambrose and took notice of a smirk on his face. "What's that look for?"

"Your girlfriend is behind you," Ambrose said.

Tsukune blinked, turned, and near enough jumped out of his skin when he saw how close Moka had gotten to him without him realising she was there. It took him no time at all to get his breathing and heart-rate under control, however, and he was soon smiling away and embracing his Vampire girlfriend in a greeting hug.

"Hey," Moka said, her usual kind smile plastering her face. She giggled a little. "Surprised, Tsukune?" She was wearing something a little different this weekend: A red v-neck dress with white trimmings and a white jacket.

"N-no," Tsukune said in a failing attempt to cover it up. "You … you look really good today, Moka." It was true, too; he though she looked stunning.

_Using a compliment to cover up an embarrassing moment, _Ambrose thought, nodding. _I approve._

"Aw, thanks, Tsukune," Moka said, beaming. She leaned up and planted a light, loving kiss on Tsukune's lips. While the two were an official couple—much to the ire of the male student population—they were nowhere near as … _proactive _in their relationship as Ambrose and Kurumu were in theirs, due to their shy personalities. The kiss ended quickly, but it felt like an eternity to them, and Moka asked, "Was that your mom on the phone?"

"Yeah …" There was a hint of trepidation in Tsukune's voice as he talked about his parents. He didn't particularly want them involved in what he'd found out about this school, in any way, shape or form.

"Must be nice. A mom …" Moka trailed off, causing Tsukune and Ambrose some concern, before her smile grew wide on her face again. "I'd love to visit your home sometime, Tsukune!"

Tsukune did a massive spit-take. _Moka … at my place! _He thought in shock. _If I brought a gorgeous girl like her home … my parents would die of shock! But then again … she _is _my girlfriend …_

"Oh … right …" Moka seemed embarrassed as she spoke. "Since I'm not human … like you …"

"No, no, no! It's not that! My parents would be _psyched _about you, Moka. But … everything's going so great, it's kind of scary. At first, I had no idea how things would go. I mean, a school full of _Monsters! _But … then I got to be friends with you and the others … and then you became my girlfriend … and now I'm really happy I came here! I feel like things are going to turn out all right from now on, you think …?"

"… Yeah. Everything's great. I'm positive!" Moka closed her eyes and smiled in contentment.

Ambrose was distracted by the admittedly adorable exchange before him by a pair of slender arms capturing him from behind. A smile formed on his own face as he looked back and saw Kurumu latched onto him, nuzzling into his back. He shifted position so that he was facing her, and returned the hug.

"Hello again, Kurumu," he said, bringing a hand up to stroke her face.

"Hey there, Ambrose," Kurumu said, smirking. She was just wearing her normal gear, seeing as she didn't wear the normal uniform anyway. "I got nice and cleaned up, just like you said." She emphasised her words by pressing her breasts up against his chest, rubbing them along his torso. "Is the good girl gonna get a _reward_?"

Ambrose grinned. "Oh, you will, just wait 'till tonight." He lifted her chin and planted a kiss on her lips, which she returned eagerly. "Now, then," Ambrose said, turning but keeping an arm around Kurumu's shoulders, "how about we head down to the cafeteria for some breakfast? Riku and Yukari normally beat us there, anyway."

The group agreed and the four of them went down to the cafeteria and grabbed some breakfast … and a bit of a morning pick-me-up from Tsukune's bloodstream in Moka's case.

~Freshman at Yokai~

The weekend had passed by in a blur, and in no time it was Monday again. Time for school and all that. Most of the students at Yokai Academy—hell, at _any _academy—dreaded Monday like it was the Black Plague. To the Newspaper Club, however, Monday was the day that all of their work from the previous week came to fruition. Monday was the day they gave out the newspapers.

This day's issue was more of a wrap-up of the month they'd had, though it did also contain all of the significant events of the last week. This month in particular had been quite eventful for the school: The art teacher (now _ex_-art teacher), the blackmailing pervert with the camera (who had more victims than just Kurumu), just about anything significant that had happened. It was also a big day for the club itself, as it had now been a month since they'd begun printing papers.

While the Newspaper Club were definitely proud of their work, they would have been idiots not to realise that Moka and Kurumu were the primary reasons for the male population of the school taking papers. This irritated Tsukune and Ambrose to no end, but they begrudgingly accepted the fact; they didn't need to be causing any more trouble for themselves, after all.

Despite the reasoning, the paper was a huge success. This lead to many hugs of joy for Tsukune and Ambrose from their respective girlfriends, who both took the newspaper more seriously than anyone else (even Gin, oddly enough). Riku and Yukari mostly stood to the side and handed out papers individually, though Yukari did start hugging Tsukune at random intervals … and Moka, too.

Surprisingly, and disgustingly in the latter case, Riku and Yukari had their own sets of admirers. There were a certain few girls at the school who thought Riku's shyness due to his stutter was a rather cute feature. Not that he realised that was why they were there, though. Yukari, on the other hand, had some more … unsavoury admirers, mostly consisting of boys. The others did their best to keep these guys away, but on some occasions Yukari ended up having to run around the school to escape them. It apparently wasn't an easily solvable problem.

Gin, rather than helping in any way, simply stood back and watched, reading his own paper with a smile on his face.

He may have been a pervert, but he still took pride in his work!

~Freshman at Yokai~

In a dark room, two people stood talking.

"So," one said, a male voice full of malice, "the Newspaper Club …?"

"Yes," said the other, a cruel female voice. "I hear they're handing out papers at the front gate … without our permission."

The male was reading one of the papers, in particular the section about Ms Ishigami. "Pathetic little club." He crushed the paper in his fist and threw it to the side. "Acting like big shots … ignoring our authority! They'll pay dearly for this … let's go and introduce ourselves, shall we?"

~Freshman at Yokai~

"How's it going? Get rid of a lot of papers?" Gin asked as he approached them. There was a smile on his face; nothing perverted or lecherous, just a smile of pride. Everyone greeted him in the affirmative. "Wow, looks like they're pretty popular today. We should start giving them all out here rather than just posting them into dorm rooms … and maybe we should even charge for them …"

"Yeah!" Moka said enthusiastically. "Half of 'em are gone already! Isn't it inspiring?"

"Yeah, it is," Gin said. "How you doing, Riku? People haven't been bugging you too much to speak, have they?"

"I-I've b-been a-all right," Riku said. He was smiling lightly, which was a bit of a rare sight for him. Usually he just looked nervous. "J-Just a f-f-few p-people asking i-if th-they h-have t-t-to pay."

"He's been doing really well, too," Ambrose said. Kurumu was clinging to him, as usual. "His confidence issue is really improving."

"That's good." Gin was pleased that the club's work was benefiting one of its members.

"Give us a hand, Gin," Tsukune said, smiling. Like the others, he had come to be quite fond of Gin since they'd started working together, despite the … incident. "Hand out a few!"

Gin laughed heartily. "Fool! An upperclassman doesn't do grunt work! That's what _you're _for!"

"_What!?_" Tsukune asked loudly. "What kind of attitude is that for a club president to have!?"

"Are you really that surprised, Tsukune?" Ambrose asked. "Gin wouldn't do physical labour if an old man in a wheelchair went passed him trying to drag a five-ton _help wanted _sign that also advertised warehouse work carrying boxes."

"Yeah, he only works hard when the goal is _nasty_," Yukari said. "Like a dog in heat."

Gin was right in front of her in seconds, a patronising grin on his face. "That's a pretty grown-up joke for someone who's chest is as flat as a board." Just to emphasise his point, he poked Yukari in the chest region.

Yukari was, understandably, angered by the comment. "I happen to _prefer _being flat-chested!"

"You should put some band-aids on those mosquito bites."

"_SEXUAL HARASSMENT!" _Yukari held her wand up, but by then the gasps of the crowd had distracted Gin from noticing … until a bronze pot fell from nowhere and hit him directly in the head.

The crowd were all gasping and whispering as shouts of "Clear the way!" and "Out of the way!" rose up from within. The Newspaper Club could see flashes of black amidst the sea of green uniforms.

"What's going on?" Tsukune asked.

Gin's face told them that he knew _exactly _what was going on … and it wasn't going to be good.

"It's … it's the black shirts!" one of the students in the crowd said in a hushed voice, but it was loud enough for the club to hear it.

Out of the crowd stepped a group of students who were, indeed, wearing black uniforms rather than the traditional green. The one in the front—most likely the leader—was a male student with long blonde hair. His eyes were gold and shined with sadism and danger. His eyebrows were oddly black, and were so small that they only appeared at about a fifth of what they should be. He was smiling at them, but there was no pleasantness in this smile. His tall, thin appearance would unnerve even the toughest of Monsters.

"I'm Kuyo," he introduced himself with a small bow. His voice was like a snake: sharp and full of malice, "leader of the Protection Committee." He took a sharp, but barely noticeable, look at Gin. "I believe we've met …"

"How is our club jeopardising school safety?" Moka asked in a worried tone.

_It's not, _Ambrose thought to himself. His eyes scanned all of the people in black uniforms, and his suspicion grew. _So what the hell do these pricks want?_

He didn't get a chance to go further with his thoughts, because Gin had stepped in front of everyone in the club, holding his arms out as if to protect them from an imminent danger. They were all reasonably confused by this development.

A small chuckle escaped from Kuyo's mouth. "Newspaper Club, eh?" he said with disdain in his voice. "We don't have a problem with your club, _per se_ … _but who gave you permission to hand out newspapers on school grounds!? _I don't recall seeing a request submitted." He ignored their confused looks and walked towards the table that held the newspapers. "And that makes you … _a menace to the peace!_" He brought a foot forwards and in one swift movement kicked the table into splinters, sending newspapers flying all over the ground. "_You think you can break school rules whenever you feel like it!_"

They were silent. In shock. They stared down at the floor, gazing upon all of their hard work gone to waste. However fearful they were of these other students, one emotion sparked in all of them, no matter how small it happened to be.

They were all getting angry.

Not that they could do anything about that anger without causing a scene. If they could, they would. But under the circumstances, combined with the distraught feelings of watching their work scatter, all they could bring themselves to express was their distress, all of them crying out in one way or another.

"_HEAR THIS!_" Kuyo shouted at the top of his lungs. "_WE MAINTAIN ORDER AT THIS SCHOOL! ALL CLUB ACTIVITIES REQUIRE OUR PRIOR PERMISSION! _Any unauthorised activities … will be dealt with—_harshly!_" He began to bring his foot down on boxes of newspapers they had not yet unpacked, until—

"_N-No! Stop!_" Kurumu unexpectedly cried out. Everyone looked to her in shock, none more so than Ambrose, whose shock was mixed with more worry than he could remember feeling in a while. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something about these guys that told him they were on a whole other level to the Monsters they'd fought thus far.

"_We were only handing out newspapers!_" Kurumu continued her yelling. She went forwards, attempting to reach out and grab Kuyo by the shoulders, not even noticing Ambrose and—surprisingly—Gin's attempts to hold her back. "You're just _bullying _us!"

… A thread of … _something_, struck her and wrapped around her outstretched hand. She yelled out something incoherent in surprised. Ambrose was there in seconds, claws out, tearing through the strange sticky substance that bound his girlfriend's arm.

"What the fuck _is _this shit?" he hissed under his breath as it came off, but got stuck on his claws instead. He shook his hand as much as he could, but the stuff never moved.

A small laugh escaped from a member of the Protection Committee. It was a girl with black hair and a sick smile on her face. "Reporters such are losers," she said through her laugh. Hearing this, Kurumu got in her face aggressively, but she continued on, this time insulting Kurumu directly. "What a dumb, _slutty _airhead. Haven't changed since last year …" She stopped when she noticed something else: Ambrose was holding one of his claws, which were still coated in the sticky stuff, right in front of her throat.

"Just keep talking about Kurumu like that," he said quietly. "Then I guess we'll see what colour your blood is. You got tha—"

"Oh, Mr Holt," said Kuyo with a tut. "You should know well enough that it's against the rules to show any of your Monster qualities in school …" A small fire suddenly sprouted between Ambrose and the girl. Ambrose took a quick step back, nearly knocking down Kurumu in the process, terror clear in his eyes for all to see as the dancing flame was reflected back in them. "Scared are we, Mr Holt?" Kuyo chuckled and the fire vanished. Ambrose breathed deep but could not bring himself to speak, though he did wonder how this guy knew his name …

And what in the hell did that bitch mean by 'last year'?

"It won't do you any good," the girl said, "_to defy the Protection Committee!_" She brought a high-heeled foot down on a newspaper, tearing it to shreds.

Everyone in the Newspaper Club watched in horror as their work was destroyed. All except for Kurumu, who was concerned over Ambrose's reaction to the fire …

"Remember this—the next club that presumes to act without our permission …" Kuyo said, looking around at the other students dangerously, "… will get it _worse_." They began walking away, but what no one heard was Kuyo saying, "Keito—" the girl turned her head upwards in response "—I want you to keep an eye on them … see how the little journalists respond …"

All of the Newspaper club—excepting Ambrose who was still shaking a little—glared after them, occasionally looking down at the remnants of their hard work.

Gin was suddenly very afraid.

"Ambrose … are you all right, baby?" Kurumu asked, surprisingly softly for her. She noticed that he had stopped shaking, but his breathing was still laboured and much deeper than usual. "You look really freaked out … and that goo stuff is still all over your hand …"

Ambrose shook his head, seemingly snapping back to reality. "I'm okay," he said. "It's just really irritating more than anything." He shook his hand, but the strange gooey thread clung to him still. "Bloody stuff … I'll get rid of it later."

"It's horrible …" Yukari said. There were hints of tears in the corners of her eyes, which is to be expected due to her young age, even in spite of her maturity. "Who were those … those fascists?"

"The Protection Committee," Gin said, "is the violent branch of the student council." He was looking at the floor as if in deep concentration, and he spoke with a fear and seriousness that none of them had heard before. "Their job is to keep the peace inside the academy. They enforce the rules and subdue troublemakers … which at this school often requires force. They're like … a student police force."

"But if they're the school police, how come this is the first time I've seen them?" Tsukune asked.

Gin scratched the back of his head, seeming to wince at the thoughts running through his mind. "Well, the problem is … you see … they've gone bad. Turned into a school Yakuza … that threatens kids and extorts money from them. They said we need their approval to pass out papers, remember? What they're really saying is 'pay us a bribe.'"

"Th-that's f-f-fucking absurd!" Riku said in a rare expression of anger. "Wh-where the h-hell d-do th-they get off d-doing th-than in a-a-a sch-school?"

"We better give in this time." Gin was talking more to himself than to them now. "We'll just have to burn all the papers to show we don't mean any trouble."

"BURN THEM!?" Kurumu practically shrieked. "_Our newspapers!? _But we've still got lots to hand out!"

"Forget it. Just burn them." Gin spoke dismissively, like he was talking about about throwing away the leftovers after dinner. "No good will come from picking a fight with them. We've just got to take it."

"No fire … no fire …" Ambrose muttered to himself, though no one really noticed by this point. They were all too riled up in anger to notice his quiet whispers.

Practically all of them glared at Gin. Feelings of disbelief, frustration and anger began to build as he simply walked away from them, giving no explanation as to why he was so willing to just lay down and take what was handed to him.

Eventually even Ambrose grew angry at him.

~Freshman at Yokai~

Gin had left them alone after that.

The Newspaper Club sat around a table. There was a box on the table, a box filled with the newspapers they had never managed to hand out. They looked down at them in sadness, each one silently fuming about the situation they had been put in. Silently, that is until …

"What a coward!" Kurumu finally said, her voice full of anger. "He's no club president! And he isn't even sticking around to help burn them!" The image of the girl, Keito, filled her mind, and her anger increased dramatically. "Hey … are you guys with me? _Let's pass out the rest of the papers! _We don't have to follow the orders of a wimp!"

"I-I don't know …" Moka said nervously. "I mean … maybe Gin has some kind of back-up plan …"

"That guy's never had a plan for anything that doesn't wear a skirt!" Kurumu snapped.

"Kurumu, honey, for what it's worth, I agree with you," Ambrose said. _Anything to avoid making fire, _he added in his mind. "But we should probably think about this. We can't just walk out there and start handing them out. The damn Protection Committee would be on our asses in a _second_. Let's just take a minute to think about our next move, yeah?" He hoped he could calm her down; with the way she was acting, she would probably have ended up saying something she'd regret if he'd let her keep going.

It appeared to work as she calmed down some, then moved over to him and wrapped her arms around him. "I knew I could count on your help," she said, "let's go show 'em what we're made of!"

Well, it wasn't exactly the reaction he'd wanted, but it was a hell of a lot better than the one he'd expected.

"Kurumu—"

"That 'slutty' remark really got under your skin, huh?" Yukari asked, cutting off anything Ambrose may have had to say. And, unfortunately, having an entirely negative effect on Kurumu's already bad mood.

The next thing anyone knew Kurumu had whacked Yukari upside the head, and was dragging Ambrose out of the room by his arm.

"You just chill out here, guys, I'll try to calm her down," Ambrose said. None of them truly realised just how sarcastic he was being at the time, and they all took him seriously for the moment.

It turned out that it was not the best of times to do so.

~Freshman at Yokai~

"The two of us can handle this ourselves … can't we, Ambrose?" Kurumu asked as she and the aforementioned Wendigo walked side by side, determination in her steps and slight hesitation in his. They were outside now, wandering the school, Kurumu with the box of newspapers in her arms. They were walking past the area of the furnace when they stopped to have this conversation. Ambrose gave it as wide a berth as he could.

"Of course, I've always wanted to fight against an organisation hell-bent on forcing the school to succumb to their tyrannical rule," Ambrose said. He then decided that sarcasm probably wasn't appropriate at the time, so he added, "But don't you think it would at least _help _if we had the others here? They made the paper, too, you know. And we could try to talk some sense into Gin again …"

"No!" Kurumu yelled. Her voice was filled with grief. Ambrose paused at hearing her tone of voice and looked at her in concern. "This newspaper … is my baby! I wore myself out making this paper! You, Tsukune, Moka, Yukari, Riku and I … we worked so _hard! _All that just to have it go up in smoke!? Those _thugs _aren't going to make us do that!"

Ambrose thought about it. _We … we _did _put an awful lot of work into it. Oh, what the hell am I thinking? We packed blood, sweat and tears into that fucking newspaper! And I … I can't recall having this much fun in a damn long time. We … we made this thing together, just like she says, and none of us want to burn it. And it means so much to _her_; I can't let this happen when it means so damn much to Kurumu … not in a million years. She's right. These assholes need to be put the fuck _down!

"Okay," he said, the same look of determination passing over his face. "Where do we start?"

_Blech!_

The disgusting, sloppy sound came from nearby, and the same sticky, white, thread-like substance from before came from somewhere above them, attaching itself to the box of newspapers. The box was suddenly pulled from Kurumu's grasp and tugged upwards.

A sadistic-sounding laugh came from above them. "Don't make me laugh," said Keito, who was standing on a bridge of the thread connecting two trees above them. And now she was holding the box of newspapers. "You two really are too stupid."

"Y … _you!_" Kurumu yelled. She looked remarkably angry.

"Well, this is just great," Ambrose said under his breath. "Psycho-bitch didn't even wait until we got started …"

"You must be a glutton for punishment, newspaper slut," Keito said. She was smiling, and her hand seemed to be … producing the white thread goo. "You _and _your boy-toy there. I better put you both out of your misery." She jumped down from the tree, the thread in her hand attaching itself to said tree and allowing her to fall to the ground without risk of harm. She held the box under one arm.

"H-hey! Give us back our newspaper!" Kurumu yelled at her in a fury.

"You seem to be going to an awful lot of trouble to stop the paper from getting out," Ambrose pointed out, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. "I'm a little curious as to why. Were you touched up by a journalist as a child?" As he joked he also prepared his claws. He could see where this was going, and he wanted to be prepared for this one.

"Oh, it's too late to save your sorry skins with _reasoning_," Keito said. "Or don't you know …?" Upon seeing the confused looks from the both of them, she grinned and continued. "The Newspaper Club has been targeted ever since last year. Ever since they _dared _to defy the Committee. Those idiots had delusions that they'd be able to change our school policies! They actually designed to _criticise _the Protection Committee in their editorials! So we had to _purge _the club. We thought we'd _obliterated _it, actually."

_We better give in this time. _Gin's words echoed through the minds of Ambrose and Kurumu as understanding finally dawned on the both of them. Gin had been through all of this before.

"The only reason this school hasn't exploded into chaos is because _we _enforce the peace," Keito said, a hiss to her voice that was not there before, and a new look of anger on her face. "Anyone who can't understand that … must be _eliminated!_"

"I would question the logic of attacking this year's club—which has done nothing to you, by the way—but I can see that your unresolved mental issues would make the answer to that question utterly irrelevant." Ambrose's voice was calm, but shaking slightly, too. He was angry. _Very _angry. "You _sick bastards _are the ones starting the fight, and don't you dare pretend otherwise, you lowlife hypocrite! All we want to do is get our paper published, so why don't you leave us the fuck alone?"

Keito's eyes twinkled dangerously. "… Leave you alone …?" She raised the newspapers above her head using one hand. "_Leave you alone!?_" She thrust her hand backwards and into the burning furnace, the box erupting into flames and making Ambrose take a rather nervous step backwards. "_Who do you think you're talking to!?_"

Kurumu's hands were covering her mouth in horror as she watched all of their hard work burst into flames and smoke. "No …" she sobbed out, tears beginning to run from her eyes.

That was all the motivation Ambrose needed in order to act. The fire was irrelevant, almost nonexistent in his head. All he knew was that this girl, this _bitch_, had just made Kurumu cry. And Ambrose couldn't have that. He was so angry than any sense of self-preservation had deserted his mind, and he charged towards the unsuspecting Keito. She attempted to draw her hand out of the furnace quick enough, but was too late.

"_Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!_" she cried out in pain. Ambrose stood in front of her, a claw on his right hand coated with red blood. Keito had her hands over her left eye, which was gushing blood at an existential rate.

"Huh, it's red, what do you know?" Ambrose said. He looked down at his fingers and, after debating it quickly with himself, licked the blood off of them. "Urgh. You taste _disgusting. _I've found better meals in the fucking sewer." He grunted in pain and noticed the fire a few feet away from him. He jumped back with a yelp, still feeling pain on his body despite the fact that the fire had not touched him. "_Shit!_"

"Newspapers are very flammable, aren't they?" Keito growled. She had taken her hands away from her eye, which was now closed, but the marks Ambrose's claws had made were clear for all to see. Keito glared at him, though a smirk adorned her face. "You don't seem to like the fire all that much, do you?" She plunged her hand into the furnace and scooped out a handful of burning pieces of paper and cardboard, throwing them forward as quickly as she'd grabbed them. Ambrose took a leap back, causing Keito to laugh.

"Ambrose … the newspaper …" Kurumu whimpered. She was shocked at Ambrose's display of violence, obviously, but all her eyes could focus on were the burning cinders of the paper they and the others had worked so hard on. Ambrose moved over to comfort her, and Keito laughed her loudest yet.

With a disgusting noise, Keito spat out line after line of the sticky thread, all of it hitting Ambrose and Kurumu where they stood. "The silk is made by me," she explained to them with glee as they struggled to try and escape. "It sticks tight and it'll never let go!" She bit off the silk from her mouth and grabbed onto the end. "I think it's about time I put an end to you two!" She pulled the silk hard to the right, sending Ambrose and Kurumu flinging in that direction, hitting any trees or other objects they passed by in the process.

Once again, it would seem, they were going to need a hand.

~Freshman at Yokai~

Back in the clubroom, the others were beginning to get restless. Kurumu and Ambrose had been gone for a while, a lot longer than anyone had expected them to be. The thought was beginning to cross their mind that maybe they should have gone to help Ambrose try and calm Kurumu down. They had heard a lot of yelling not long ago, but thought it could have been anybodies, and now the yelling was picking up again and they were beginning to have second thoughts about it.

"I-I'm st-starting to g-g-get a b-bad f-feeling about th-this," Riku said at last. They were all getting the same feeling, but it was a surprise to them that he had been the first one to speak up. It didn't matter in the end, though; at least one of them had finally said something.

"Me too," Moka admitted. Kurumu was her best friend, so it was only natural that she should be worried after seeing the mood she had been in when she'd left with Ambrose.

Tsukune's words from earlier echoed in his own mind. _I get the feeling things are going to turn out all right from now on. _And now all he could think, whether from paranoia or some sort of convenient fourth-wall break, was: _Why do I get the feeling that was some kind of ironic foreshadowing?_

~Freshman at Yokai~

Ambrose cried out in pain as he was tossed through yet another tree. At this point the pain was numbing into itself so he didn't really feel it as much as he was, but that didn't mean it wasn't still taking its toll on his body. Every time he struggled to his feet Keito threw him with her silk again. She did the same to Kurumu whenever she started moving, too. Both of them were starting to worry about the situation a lot more than they initially were.

"Ambrose!" Kurumu cried out in worry. She was a little too tied up to do anything about it, the silk being wrapped around her entire body. Ambrose stuck his thumb up hoping it would reassure her, but it did little.

"Naughty boy," Keito said as she looked down on her prey. "If you want to be forgiven, you have to be obedient. You see, those of us in the Committee … can reveal our powers in the interest of protecting the peace."

"_No! _Really?" Ambrose gasped out in false shock. "And here I thought you were just flashing your abilities to get some kind of sick thrill from breaking the rules!"

She threw him again.

"We can be as _monstrous _as we want!" Keito yelled at him. Eight spider legs suddenly sprouted from the front of her uniform, and her one remaining eye turned white. There may have been more eyes sprouting on her face, but neither Ambrose nor Kurumu could see them through her hair. The Spider Woman*** **stood before them in all her glory, hissing out her words as she spoke threateningly. "No use struggling. You'll never cut through my silk." The spider legs spread out and she leaned forwards, standing on them rather than her human legs, giving her the full appearance of a spider. Even her mouth had grown pincers and her other teeth had sharpened significantly. She shot more silk from her body and it wrapped around Ambrose, entrapping him just as it had Kurumu. She was right in front of him now. "Now I'll gorge on your body fluids! That's what you get for defying us!"

"Oh, joy," Ambrose sighed. He was struggling in his bonds, trying to get his claws to cut the silk. No success. "Did I ever tell you how much I _hate _spiders?" he called over to Kurumu from his spot. "Because I do! I really fucking _hate _spiders!"

"Ambrose, this is serious!" Kurumu screamed. Keito was bringing her head closer to her struggling target, about to take a large bite out of him …

Keito was knocked flying by Moka, who was there with Tsukune, Yukari and Riku. The three of them were glaring at the Spider Woman as she stood up from her new spot on the ground.

"Did I ever tell you guys how much I love your timing?" Ambrose said. His voice did not portray it, but he was more relieved than he could ever remember being. Apparently he still had enough of a will to live that the thought of dying genuinely scared him. He turned his head and sighed. "Heads up. The spider bitch is getting up again."

"Wh-what …?" Keito said as she got up. She sounded very angry, but she didn't have a facial expression that it was possible for anyone to read, so they could only guess at that. "YOU DARE—!?" She shot a long, thick line of the silk from her mouth and it attached to Moka's arm, who yelled out as it came into contact with her. Tsukune immediately tried to help her get it off. Riku tried to help Ambrose, and Yukari tried to help Kurumu, despite their mutual dislike for each other (which no one—not even the two of them—could explain).

"The Protection Committee is the one and _only_ authority at this school!" Keito was approaching Moka. She had one of her long, sharp spider legs raised, preparing to slash it down at a moment's notice. "We hold the power … of _life and death!_"

The leg came down.

But not on Moka.

Moka had been pushed back. Tsukune stood a little further back from where she once was, a great gash on his shoulder running down to his abdomen. There was crimson blood gushing from it.

"_TSUKUNE!_" Moka screamed in despair when she saw what had happened, and realised just what Tsukune had just done.

"Why … is this happening … Moka?" Tsukune asked weakly. He was swaying on his feet and losing blood by the second. "All I wanted … was to have friends …"

"WHEN WILL YOU LEARN!?" Keito shouted in her hissing voice. She brought a leg forwards again, this time not slashing but bludgeoning, and cracking some of the bones in Tsukune's back as she sent him flying forwards, directly into Moka.

Then Keito got confused.

_What is this!? _She yelled in her head as she saw a strange light emitting from Moka. _That cross is gone … and Moka …_ She looked down and saw that the Rosario was grasped firmly in Tsukune's hand, though all that kept him standing was a firm grip the now-transformed Moka was keeping on his shoulder.

Inner Moka looked at Tsukune with something akin to fondness, which would have confused the others present had they been paying attention. "Tsukune," she said. Had he not been near passed-out from blood-loss he would have seen an out-of-place smile on her face.

_What … is this girl? _Keito thought in wonder. _Incredible … monstrous … power … ha! What luck! My silk is still wrapped around her arm! That bitch is mine! Come to me and I'll suck you dry! _Something that could have passed for a smile adorned her arachnid face and she gave a mighty pull on the silk that was still attached to Moka's arm … nothing happened. Inner Moka simply sat there, kneeling down next to a now-unconscious Tsukune. _She isn't moving! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! _

"You …" Inner Moka said. Her voice came out in a growl, whereas it normally would have been mocking and superior. Everyone paused their struggles with the silk and turned to look at the rather chilling spectacle before them. Inner Moka turned her crimson orbs to Keito in rage, one fang sticking out of her mouth in a snarl. "You did this to Tsukune …" She brought a hand up, clutched the silk attached to her arm, and began slowly pulling Keito towards her.

"H-Hold it right there …!" Keito yelled out in terror. "Raise a hand against a protector and you will suffer! So let's drop it, shall we …?"

Inner Moka said nothing. She grabbed hold of the silk and gave one mighty yank, pulling Keito, who was now screaming in terror, towards her with incredible strength. As Keito got to her, Moka brought up her feet and kicked her in the face as hard as she could, which caused even more blood to pour out of her face, even out of the wound created by Ambrose earlier on. She went flying off, the silk tearing, and was knocked unconscious, likely losing the majority of her blood where she landed.

"You have it backwards," Inner Moka said coldly. "If _you _raise a hand against _me _… you'll learn your place."

The others were surprised to see how tenderly Inner Moka brought Tsukune to his feet and took him away from the area. It took them a while, but eventually they got Ambrose and Kurumu free of Keito's silk. None of them could help but speculate that Inner Moka was beginning to care for Tsukune just as much as Outer Moka did.

But there was one issue that was far more important than anything of that sort.

Was the Protection Committee done with them? They didn't think so.

It was only a matter of time.

~Freshman at Yokai~

"They beat Keito …?" Kuyo asked his subordinates in disbelief and anger. "That infernal Newspaper Club. Are they _seriously _considering going up against us? Don't tell me they forgot what happened to their club last year! Well, they won't have to remember anything this time. After this … there won't be any Newspaper Club ever again."

A mature, feminine chuckle sounded from behind the Protection Committee. "Hold on," the woman said. She was concealed in shadow, but Kuyo recognised her. They _all _recognised her. "Protectors or not … you can't just eliminate a club without due cause."

"What are _you _doing here?" Kuyo asked her. He was surprised to see her, but he would not admit it out loud.

"I could just make them vanish …" the woman continued. "But … I can't expose myself at the moment. What I can do … is reveal the Newspaper Club's great _weakness _… the _true identity _of one of its members." A hissing sound came from her general area, followed by another chuckle. "Tsukune Aono. I believe he might be … _human_."

Kuyo turned his head sharply, and angry yet eager look in his eyes. "Are you saying … that this _elite school for Monsters _ has been … infiltrated by a _filthy human?_"

"And what if it's true?" the woman asked, stepping out of the shadows. "What will you do?" There was a pause and a grin grew on the woman's face. "The law permits you to _kill _him. Him … and _all his friends._"

* * *

**It's at about this point that those of you who have only ever watched the animé will get _really _confused. "What about the Super Newspaper Club?" you may be asking. Well, I'm gonna shoot straight here ... that entire thing was just fucking stupid, and the fact that the manga never had it is a blessing as far as I'm concerned. I tend to have a few issues with the animé, anyway, since it took the well-written and thought-out story of the manga and turned it into fanservice central. Don't get me wrong, being a teenager boy I love fanservice, but when it actively interrupts the story I get a little pissed off. And cutting out the woman at the end there - fans of the manga know perfectly well who that is - was a big disappointment for me.**

**Wow, I did _not _mean for that to turn into a rant, but apparently when my mind goes on a tangent I can't help but type it ... weird. Anyway, how did you guys like the chapter? I appreciate that having Ambrose get his ass kicked is probably getting old by now, but please bare with me; I need him to be cannon fodder for this first story arc so that what I have happen afterwards makes more sense, rather than coming out of nowhere. Plus, the guy can't stand fire, so going against Kuyo was never gonna be kind to him, was it?**

**I'm planning on having Ambrose's backstory being unveiled in the next couple of chapters, too, so those of you who never read this before the rewrite and don't know what his past entails, you're in for a treat.**

**Well, a very merry Christmas to you all! I hope you have a good day!**

**Next Chapter: The Protection Committee Part Two: Uncovered Secrets**


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